It's a Small World, Isn't It?
by power-of -the-lightning-bolt
Summary: Lily left James because of a secret...but what happens when James is in a cafe later with his current girlfriend eight months later and sees Lily? Will they get back together? Will he forgive Lily?
1. Default Chapter

"James I have to leave, I can't do this anymore!" Lily screamed. At the moment she was being held back by James. She had had enough of James Potter. They had been living together and it was too stressful for Lily. It always looked like he was cheating on her, but he swore that it was just the other girls, not him. He was also always getting himself into sticky messes with Voldemort and his death eaters. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life living with a man that almost died every other week. It was too much for her.

She had thought of all of the pros and cons of leaving James last night when she was waiting for him to come home from work. He somehow always got the night shifts and they hardly saw each other anymore. The pros were him being her soul mate (both knew that it was true), the fact that they had the most amazing connection, and the sex was the most amazing Lily had ever had. James had admitted that too, and that was saying something.

The cons Lily thought were: his never being home, his situations with the Dark Lord, her blood pressure, and the fact that she was always seeing James with other women. She knew it wasn't all him, and she was seriously doubting his love for her.

"Lily please don't do this to me!" James yelled at her. "I can do whatever I want James Potter!" Lily screamed at him. She got away from him finally and headed for the door, grabbing her suitcase. "What did I ever do to deserve this, Lily?" he asked quietly. Lily had another secret reason that she was leaving him. "Lily please at least tell me what I did," he pleaded with her. "No, I can't tell you James," she replied, calmly, tears starting to form in her eyes. James walked toward her quickly. Lily backed away, scared.

All of a sudden she saw tears form in his eyes, "Oh Merlin, you're scared of me, what the hell have I done?" he muttered, running a hand through his jet black hair. "Lily I love you," he whispered, and pulled her into a hug. Lily pulled away, he was making it so much harder for her.

"Goodbye, James," she said quietly.

It had been eight months since Lily had dumped James. He was coping pretty badly after Lily had left him. He had gone through a series of rebounds. Right now he was with one, it had been his record since Lily. They were approaching their six month anniversary. He sort of loved this woman, her name was Belle. She had pretty blonde curls that reached just above her shoulders. Her blue eyes twinkled, resembling his old Headmaster's. Her face was round, but slender. She had a cute button nose, she was tall, but a little on the thin side. Ok, a lot on the thin side, she was like a model skinny. And he was late to meet her in a café.

He walked down a series of streets, turning the corners, humming to himself the whole time. It wasthe middle of Juneand it smelled so good outside, even in the streets of London. On his way he picked up a bouquet of flowers to maybe gain some points after being late. He reached the small café after a few more minutes, Belle would understand. He could have easily apparated to the coffee shop, but the would raise too many questions and he preferred walking in this weather anyway.

He walked into the small place, but realized it was way larger on the inside. He quickly found Belle and sat down with her at a table for two, she smiled when she saw the flowers he brought for her. There was an extra chair at the table and a thirty-something year old bald man grabbed it, while smiling at them. "Do you need this? It's getting really crowded, and my group is expecting a couple more," he said. James shook his head, "Take it," he said smiling at him. The man thanked him quickly and walked away. "So what shall we do for the rest of the day, James," Belle said, smiling. God she had a great smile. "I don't know, you pick," he said, taking a sip of his drink that Belle had already ordered. He smiled, it was exactly how he liked it. Lily had always had trouble remembering how he liked things. He shook his head, why did he think things like that? It always messed him up afterwards.

"James, are you listening?" Belle asked. James looked up. "Yeah, sorry I just spaced out for a minute, could you repeat that?" he asked. Belle smirked at him. "I said maybe we should leave now, we can figure out what to do today out in the fresh air," she said. "Oh yeah sure, good idea, I like the fresh air," he said. Belle picked up her bagand they left. They were just outside the door when Belle stopped him, she handed him money that had been in her hand, "We forgot to pay, would you go run in and pay the redheaded waitress?" Belle asked, "I don't want to go back into the crowded place again," she added as an afterthought. James grabbed the money and walked back in. He went over to the counter. There was a redhead bent over the counter, she was working on a crossword puzzle.

"Excuse me, Miss," he said. She wrote another word in. "Miss," he said a little louder. "If you have another complaint about the coffee don't complain to me, that's what the comment card is for," said a familiar voice. "No, this isn't about the coffee," he said a little annoyed. Yet he couldn't place the voice. She looked up. James couldn't believe who he saw.

Author's Note: If you really want more review! I'll post the next chapter in about twenty minutes from now!


	2. Truth

There was absolutely no way that this could be her. "Lily?" he asked quietly. Of course he knew it was her, how could he forget those deep emerald eyes? Lily just stared at him. She was still leaning on the counter, she had only looked up.

James still thought she was absolutely beautiful. She still had her beautiful red hair, it was pulled back into a low ponytail, and pieces were in her face. "Lily I know that it's you, how have things been going for you?" he asked quietly.

Lily turned away from him, she couldn't let him see her like this. She saw one of her fellow employees. "I'm going for my break right now, I'll be back," she called out to him. He nodded. "Could you help this man?" she asked him, motioning to James. "Yeah sure," he replied. Lily quickly turned and went into the back to put away her apron. She left through a back door.

She didn't turn away quick enough. James had seen exactly what she didn't want him to. She heard footsteps jogging towards her. "James where are you going?" she heard a woman call. There was no response. All of a sudden he was in front of her. "Lily, talk to me," he pleaded again. Lily tried to get away. James stayed with her. "Lily, you're pregnant, surely that means you've found someone else, just talk to me for awhile!" he said a little louder than necessary. "Leave me alone James!" she yelled at him. People were starting to look at them.

Lily clutched her stomach in pain, she walked over to a wall and sat down, her head resting against it. James sat down next to her. There was no chance of getting away this time, she was in too much pain. "Lily, are you okay?" he asked quietly, wrapping his arm around her. It felt so good to be back in his arms. Tears were rolling down her face. "I need to go into the hospital I think," she replied. "I'll take you," said James getting up, then he helped her up. Why did he have to be so good to her? "I live a few blocks away, we can walk there to my car, if you're up to it, or would you like an ambulance?" he asked. "No we can walk a couple of blocks, I'll be fine," said Lily wincing in pain as she got up. "You're sure? Because we can easily get an ambulance to come, it should only be a matter of minutes," James said, worriedly. "No, this happens a lot, we don't need to go in at all, I just need to go home and rest," Lily said, regaining most of her strength.

"I'll take you there and make sure that you're ok, where do you live?" he asked. "Way across town," Lily replied. "Well that's it, you're staying with me," James replied smiling. "No James, it's really ok, don't you have a girlfriend that would be jealous? And what if I have a worried husband at home?" she asked, taking a look at James's face when she made that last comment. It went blank. "Oh," he said, disappointed. They walked silently for a few minutes. "Do you?" he asked. "Do I have a husband?" she asked. "Yeah, do you?" James asked more curious. "No," Lily said, she couldn't bear to lie to him. "Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked. "I'm in the market as it were, how about you?" she asked. Lily knew that he had a girlfriend, she had seen her at the café. "Yeah, I have a girlfriend, but we're not really serious, I couldn't be serious after you," he said quietly.

Lily sighed, "Are you still an auror?" she asked. "Yeah, working harder than ever, how about you are you still a healer?" he asked. "Yeah, I just do the coffee thing on the side, I get bored when I'm off, and my friends thought that I needed a job, they're muggles you see and I can't tell them what I really do for a living, they thought that I was unemployed, so," Lily replied.

They had reached James's apartment, it was really nice and very big. She couldn't believe that an apartment could be so big, it was bigger than hers and her two friends, put together. "Wow," Lily said when they walked in. There was a blonde woman sitting on the couch reading a magazine. "James there you are," she said when she saw them enter. "Who's this?" she asked, looking at Lily, particularly at her rather large belly. "She's a friend of mine, she'll be staying here for a little while, she's not feeling to well," James said, he knew that Belle was jealous.

He showed Lily to the second bedroom, she immediately lay down and was clutching her stomach again. "Are you sure you're going to be ok, you're not going to go into labor on me, right?" James asked with a weak smile. He didn't like seeing Lily in pain, even if he felt she sort of deserved it.

A few minutes later he was back on the couch with Belle. At the moment he kind of wished he were single. "So why is she staying here, did her significant other dump her or something?" Belle asked. "I don't know," James replied staring out the window. "Does she have a significant other? Or is she some back-street slut?" Belle asked again. "Lily is not a slut, and I think that it would be better if you left for a little while, I have some catching up to do," James said, he was at the end of his rope, how dare she call Lily a slut. She was just jealous, James, calm down.

"Or are you the daddy?" Belle asked, "You certainly seem protective enough," she added as an afterthought. "Get out, now, Belle, before I do something I regret," James said through gritted teeth. "We're through," Belle replied. James got his wish he guessed. Belle left, with a smile on her face.

Was he the father? It was impossible, or was it? "James, I think it would be best if I left, I'm causing too much trouble," he heard a quiet voice say from behind him. "Lily we need to talk," James said. Lily sighed and sat down.

"What do you want to know?" she asked quietly, she knew where this was going. "How far along are you?" he asked, looking at her belly. "Eight months yesterday," Lily said. She was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, James was staring at her, not mean or intimidating, but it still scared her. She was sitting across from him on another couch. She started to fidget with her fingers. "Lily is the," he started sounding scared and nervous, "is the baby mine?" he said quietly, avoiding her eyes.

"No," Lily started, James face fell, "it's ours," she finished. James's eyes lit up.

A/N: Well there's chapter two for you. There will be more, just so you know. I don't think that this will be a long story with many chapters, that's not much else that I can do with it, I do have the next chapters planned out, so tell me if you want them!


	3. Late Night Ramblings

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he asked, a little louder. "I was scared you'd reject us James, I know that you're not like that but, I left you and I didn't think that you'd take us back so easily," she said, her eyes filling up with tears.

James couldn't bear to see Lily cry; it broke his heart. He quickly walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Lily will you marry me?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. She tried to pull away. "James I don't want to trap you, I don't want you to marry me just because I got pregnant," she said looking at him. "Lily I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it," he replied. "I'm sorry James I just can't, I don't believe you," Lily said getting up and starting to leave.

"Where are you going?" James asked, also getting up. "I'm going home," Lily said opening the door. "No Lily, you're staying here with me, please, at least for tonight?" James pleaded. For some reason he didn't think that Lily was safe on her own. And it was getting really late.

"Fine James, just for tonight," Lily said, sighing in defeat. "I need to call my friends to let them know where I am though." James brought her a phone. She walked into a different room and shut the door.

"Yeah I'm staying somewhere else tonight," Lily said to her friend Katie. "We were so worried about you when you didn't come home after your shift, where have you been?" Katie asked. "I've been…catching up with an old friend," Lily said. "The all famous James Potter?" Katie asked. "Yeah see you later," Lily said and hung up.

She walked out and saw James in the kitchen drinking something. Lily walked in and leaned against the counter. "So would you like to eat in or out tonight?" he asked. "In," Lily said simply, she wasn't up to going out. "I'll cook," she offered. James shook his head, "You go rest, I don't want you to collapse in pain again." Lily frowned. "I was under stress James," she replied. "Fine you cook," James said his hands in his hair.

Ten minutes later the door slammed open. "Honey I'm home!" yelled a male voice. It was Sirius. "Hey James I didn't know that you could cook," he said smelling the food, walking into the kitchen. "You're not James," he said when he saw the back of a red head. "Lily!" he screamed. He ran up to her and hugged her from behind. "Lily you've gained a little weight!" he said surprised. She turned around, "You idiot, I'm pregnant," she said laughing. Sirius stepped back and looked her over. Lily shook her head and went back to cooking.

Sirius and James were out watching TV. "So she just left?" Sirius asked. "Yeah she left out the back door and I followed her, listen Sirius, I don't want to talk about that right now," James replied. "You know what this means right? You're going to be a daddy! There's going to be a Prongs Jr.!" Sirius said, excited. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Sirius," James replied.

"Time to eat," Lily called out from the kitchen.

After dinner, and after Sirius left to go be with Remus (it was a full moon), James had settled into bed. Lily was in the next room, sleeping. He couldn't believe that day's events. All of a sudden he heard the door open.

"James?" he heard Lily say, barely above a whisper, so as not to wake him up. James rolled over and looked at her. "Yes, Lily?" he said. "I was wondering if I could sleep with you," Lily replied, looking down. James nodded and she crawled in with him. "I don't like being alone," she said snuggling up closer to James. He pulled away and rolled over. Lily moved back over to the other side of the bed. "Be that way then," she muttered.

"Lily, will you tell me what the past eight months have been like?" he asked. "What do you want to know?" Lily asked, rolling over and facing him. "When did you find out?" he asked. Lily sighed. "About a week before I left," she said quietly. She could see the hurt in James's eyes. "Do you know how long I've been dreaming of having a family with you?" James asked. Lily shook her head. "Since the moment I fell in love with you." Lily blushed. "I wish I could have been there for you when you had morning sickness," he whispered. "Liar," Lily replied. "No really I do," he said.

"It's not a pretty picture, James," she said quietly. "Anything's pretty where you're concerned," he said wrapping his arms around her. "Malfoy knew," she said suddenly. "What?" James asked, as if he hadn't heard right. "He found out a few months ago, he saw me, then he insulted me, and the baby. He said that we deserved not having you around, that you must have finally come to your senses," Lily said quickly. She had to get it out.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" he asked suddenly. "What do I get if I tell you?" she asked, smirking. "A kiss," James replied, kissing her passionately. When they broke apart Lily started to laugh. "What's so funny?" James asked. "I don't know if it's a boy or a girl," she said. James pouted. "Is it healthy?" he asked. "Oh very, very healthy," Lily said, smiling, then winced for a second. "What's wrong Lily?" he asked, concerned. "No, I'm fine, the baby just kicked, it just hurts a little," Lily said smiling. "Can I feel it?" James asked, interested.

Lily nodded and grabbed his hand and laid it on her stomach. "There, did you feel it?" she asked. James shook his head. "There it goes again, did you feel it that time?" she asked. James nodded, smiling. "You're grinning like an idiot," Lily said giggling a little bit. "And you're giggling like a little school girl," James replied. Lily scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue. "I love you James Potter," she said seriously.

"Why won't you marry me then?" James asked, getting serious again. "Can we not get into that again?" Lily pleaded. James nodded. "Thanks, hey do you have any chocolate?" she asked. "No, why?" he asked. "I've really been craving chocolate covered potato chips. Are you sure you don't have any chocolate anywhere that I could melt?" she asked. "Nope, but I'll gladly go run and get some," he replied laughing. "No, that's fine, it can wait until tomorrow, I don't want you to have to go out in the middle of the night for a person who just walked back into your life," Lily said, feeling a little bit guilty. "Nah, Lily it's fine, I want to, I want to be able to help you in some way, I've already missed so much, I want to have the chance to do something for you," he said kissing her lightly on the lips. She giggled again. "Silly little schoolgirl," James said. They both laughed.

James left and Lily was left alone to her thoughts. Why had she done this to James? Why had she left him, he was such a great guy, he welcomed fatherhood! Lily was so surprised at that, James was always one to overreact to things. Lily was the one that had overreacted that time, and she regretted it deeply. What had she done to the poor guy? A tear fell down her cheek, as she felt sorry for her and James.

"Lily?" she heard. She opened her eyes and didn't know where she was. She looked around and panicked. "Lily, Lily, it's ok, it's just me," James said quietly trying to calm her down. Lily relaxed at the sight of him. "What time is it?" she asked groggily. "It's noon," he replied. "Crap," Lily said. "Why? Are you late for something?" he asked. "Yeah I have to go to the doctor today," Lily said, getting up, but failing miserably. She fell back down. "Here let me help you," James said quickly, rushing to her side and slowly pulling her up. "My back hurts like hell," Lily said, groaning. "Well that's one of the side effects to being pregnant my fair Lily," James said chuckling. Lily glared at him. "Don't you have to be to work?" she asked. "Not today, I have the whole week off," James replied. "Can I come to your appointment?" he asked. "I don't see why not," Lily said grinning, it would be nice to be one of the lucky ladies that had a guy with her at the doctor's office. "Can we find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl?" he asked again. "No I want it to be a surprise, you can find out but I don't want to know," Lily said, who got to her feet, a little too fast. She closed her eyes all of a sudden and fought to keep her balance.

"You ok?" James asked, holding her steady. "Yeah, I just blacked out for a minute, I'm fine. Now try not to act surprised by everything, I have a muggle doctor, and she may do things that you would never expect. Like I know that in the wizarding hospital they just use spells, but we in the muggle world use all kinds of machinery, so don't act clueless, ok? Just go along with it," Lily said as a warning. "But aren't you a healer? Why do you have a muggle doctor?" he asked. "I prefer seeing the muggle doctor because I am used to seeing a muggle doctor, that's why, James," she said getting a little annoyed.

James sat down with Lily in the waiting room. There were a bunch of other pregnant women in the room and it was making James uncomfortable. Usually around women he was never uncomfortable, but this was awkward. There were other men in the room too, and they also looked a little out of place. The waiting room was decked out completely in the colors blue and pink, and it smelled very sterile. James hated the smell of sterile things. Lily was looking at a parenting magazine. "How could you stand being here alone?" he asked, looking at all of the other couples.

"I don't know, it just bothered me at first, but then I got over it, you tell me," she replied, "but it's much quieter without you here." James smiled at her last comment. "Well maybe I should just leave then if I'm not appreciated," he said. "Fine, everyone here though will think you're a horrible person," Lily retorted. James sighed, partly wishing he had never come.

"Evans, Lily," the receptionist said. Lily put the magazine back down and followed her to one of the rooms. James followed Lily. He really didn't like this place, there were pictures of babies all over all of the walls. They were all staring at him. He shuddered. "You two may step in here," the nurse said, smiling. They were led into a small room with a lot of equipment. James and Lily sat down in the chairs that were up against the wall. Minutes later the doctor came in. She was tall and pretty and blonde.

"Hello Lily," she said. Lily smiled and said hello. "How have we been doing?" she asked, pulling out a chart. "Just fine," Lily replied. James looked at Lily, she had not been fine. He was going to have to talk to that doctor afterwards. "And you are?" she said to James. James stood up, "I'm James Potter, and only found out yesterday that I am the father to be," he said grinning. "Well I'm glad you finally told him, Lily," Dr. Smith said, shaking James's hand.

"Lily would you get up on the table for me?" Dr. Smith said. James stayed down in the chair but watched with great interest as the doctor rubbed a jelly of some sort on Lily's stomach. She pulled over what looked like a television monitor. "Everything looks fine today," she said after a few minutes. "Would you like to know what it is?" she asked. Lily shook her head. "How about you Mr. Potter?" she asked. James nodded. "I'll talk to you afterwards then," she replied. James was sent out for a few minutes while the doctor did other check ups on Lily. Lily came out all dressed and ready to go. "She would like to talk to you now, James, I'll be waiting outside," she said. James walked into the room.

"Are you really sure you want to know what the baby is?" she asked. James nodded again. "It's a little healthy baby boy," she said smiling at him. James's face lit up. "I knew it when I felt it kicking last night that it was a boy," he said, happily. The doctor laughed a little at this. "I'd also like to talk to you for a minute about Lily. She didn't seem to be telling the truth when she said everything had been going fine. She's been in a lot of pain, and it scares me, she blacked out this morning when she woke up. Last night she was writhing in pain, I don't think that she wants me to see here like that but I can't help it, is it normal for her to be like that?" he asked. Dr. Smith looked at him and smiled a bit, "I'm glad that you told me about this, but there's really nothing I can do, some of it is normal but some of it isn't, if it keeps happening though you should take her in, goodbye Mr. Potter," she said and walked out.

Author's Note: I know I know, this isn't much of a chapter, but it's something. It will get better I promise. And I want to let you know that I've been banned from the internet, and computer in general but I'm sneaking on when no one's around to try and do this, so bear with me!


	4. Searching For Lily

I'd like to dedicate this chapter to: Patronus99, because she is a bloody genius. Are you sure you're not a seer? Your little prediction was right! Could that just mean that I am predictable though? I hope not!

Chapter Four

James walked out of the door feeling a little relieved. At least most of it was normal. _He was going to have a little boy! He'd have a son!_ James was too happy for words to even begin to describe it. He had always dreamed of having a son someday, and now in a little less than a month his dreams would come true.

Lily was down sitting on a bench watching the traffic crawl by, it was rush hour. James sat down next to her, grinning. "I know something you don't know," he chanted. Lily laughed. "So is it a boy or a girl?" Lily asked.

"What do you mean? I thought that you didn't want to know," James said.

"I can change my mind, can't I?" Lily asked, smirking. James shook his head. "It depends on what you're changing your mind about," he answered.

James wrapped his arm around Lily. "How about we compromise?" he asked suspiciously.

Lily looked at him. "What did you have in mind Mr. Potter?" she asked. James pretended to ponder her question.

"Will you marry me if I tell you?" he asked sweetly.

"Nope, I don't want to know that bad," Lily said simply. James sighed. _When will you ever understand I don't want to marry you just because it's the right thing to do?_

James removed his arm from around Lily and he moved down the bench, farther from Lily. "What's the matter?" she asked. James shook his head. "Fine be that way Potter," she said icily, all of a sudden she disapparated away.

What have I done to her now? He wondered. James trudged back to his apartment with Sirius waiting there for him. "So how'd it go? Where's the beautiful Lily?" he asked. James fell to the couch. "It went fine, but she lied to the doctor about being just fine, you should have seen her this morning, she could barely move," James answered Sirius's first question, "And I have no clue as to where Lily is. She just left, I have no clue where she went," James said.

Sirius looked at him questioningly. "What did you say to her before she just disappeared?" he inquired.

"I didn't say anything wrong, I was just asking her to marry me, I wasn't even being serious about it, I was only suggesting it," James replied. Sirius cocked an eyebrow, suggesting he didn't believe James.

"It's the truth, Padfoot." James said seriously, "I'm going to go find her," James said determinedly.

"You do that Prongs, you do that," Sirius said, taking a sip of beer from a bottle that had been on the coffee table.

"You're going to help me, Sirius," he said, grabbing his wand. Sirius looked up,

"But my favorite show is on!" he whined.

James turned the TV off. "Come on," he growled.

Lily was lying down on her bed, in her apartment. Katie had come in to check on her once, and to bring her something to eat. After that Katie had to go to work and Lily was left all alone.

She had chosen to go to sleep. Sleep wasn't coming easy tonight for her though. She hurt very badly and she couldn't move. She wished that she were back with James. _Why do I have to be such a bitch to him? All he's ever done is loved me._

All of a sudden she felt one very large stabbing sensation, and all she saw was black.

James started his search for Lily down at the coffee shop where she worked. That was a bad idea though.

The café was deserted except for one customer. That customer was one of the last people on Earth that James wanted to see right now.

"James!" he heard a squeal.

"Hello Belle, to what do I owe this great pleasure?" he asked sarcastically.

"Oh, James I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to break up with you, but I just I was so jealous!" she said hurriedly.

"That's fine Belle-" he started.

"Oh good, we can pick up right where we left off then!" Belle cut him off, happily. "Come over here and sit down with me, we can talk things over then," she said, pulling him over to the table she had been sitting at. James went reluctantly, if he cooperated, Belle would soon be done, and the sooner he could find Lily. "So, where is that Lily girl? I wanted to apologize to her," Belle said.

"That's actually the reason I'm here, you haven't seen her have you?" he asked. That was the wrong thing to say.

"What do you mean she's the reason you came here?" Belle asked, flaring up.

"You were right Belle, we are through, ok? And you were right, that is my child Lily's carrying, and at the moment I can't find her!" James said a little bit louder than necessary.

"Don't yell James, I don't want people to know we're having problems!" Belle hissed.

James got up and walked over to the counter. "How may I help you?" he heard.

"Yes, you have a co-worker here, her name is Lily Evans, I'm wondering if you could tell me where she is?" James asked.

"I'm sorry, that's against policy," said the woman. "Please, I was with her earlier, I'm really worried about her, I can't find her anywhere, and in her **_condition _**I think she might be hurt. The woman looked at him quizzically.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"James Potter." He stated.

"Here, do you have a piece of paper?" she asked. James nodded and pulled out a small piece of parchment. "This is some weird paper," she said intrigued. "Yeah, it is isn't it?" he said.

"Here's her address, I think that she'll be happy to see you, Mr. Potter," the kind woman said.

"Well I can't thank you enough…" James started.

"Katie," said the woman smiling.

"Thanks Katie," he said, leaving.

"James, call me!" Belle shouted. When she was sure James and Sirius were gone she disapparated away, to her master.

James and Sirius ran to the nearest isolated spot and disapparated to Lily's address. James knocked on the door first, but no one answered. He banged louder, there was still no answer. "Alohomora," James said. The door flew open.

James walked in. "Lily?" he called. Sirius walked around inspecting the place also. "It's too quiet," he said.

"Something's wrong, isn't it, Sirius?" James said, nervously. Sirius looked at his best friend.

"Yes something is definitely wrong, Prongs."

James looked around, there were two doors. "I'll take this one," he said. Sirius nodded and went to open the other door.

James held his wand out and opened the door suddenly. It led to a bathroom. He heard water running in the tub, which was concealed by a curtain. James walked towards it, and pulled it open slowly. There was nobody there. He shut off the water, a little bit relieved.

"James, you've got to see this!" he heard Sirius shout from across the hall.

"Coming!" he yelled back. He stood up and turned around, walking out of the bathroom, and to what he supposed was Lily's room.

He was very surprised at what he saw. There was a bed pushed up against the wall, and a large full-length mirror propped up in the corner, it seemed to show everything in the room. He could see himself from the door, which he thought was a little odd. There were things thrown all over the room, and the mirror had a large crack in it.

Then he looked at the bed more closely. "Oh my god," he whispered. There was still and indent where Lily had been laying. Only the blankets were strewn all around. And there was blood. There was a lot of blood, too much blood. James picked up the mattress, it had bled (A/N: Please excuse the pun, I just can't think of another word for that!) all the way through. He touched it, it was still wet and warm. He wiped his hands on his pants to get the blood off.

"We've got to find her, Sirius," he said quietly.

"We will mate, we will," he said, rubbing his friend's back.

Author's Note: Thank you to anyone who reviewed this…or who is still reading it for that matter! I'm so sorry about the wait, but I had so many ideas as to where to go with this, I had not one, not two, not three, not even FOUR, but FIVE different plots as to where this was going to go. Being the genius I am, I have just decided to combine them all. Somehow…anyway would you review please? I love reviews!


	5. Compassion

Alrighty, I have chosen a beta for this story, tywnfiel, thank you so much! Anyway I may or may not need a beta for Arranged...if tynwfiel wouldn't mind...so just tell me! : )

Lily woke up and tried to take in her surroundings, only she couldn't. The room she was in was pitch black. She couldn't tell how large or small it was, she couldn't see how wide or narrow it was, or where any of the exits were. It was so dark in that room she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face.

"Miss Evans is awake, Master," said a familiar voice, though Lily couldn't quite place it.

"Ah, Miss Evans, how are you feeling?" asked a high pitched voice Lily recognized as Voldemort's.

"What do you want, Voldemort?" she asked viciously. She then felt a hand connect with her cheek. She tried to hit back, but found that her hands were tied.

"Don't hurt her, fool," said Voldemort quickly, "we need her." He then performed a charm on Lily's cheek so it didn't sting as badly.

"Miss Evans, we have kidnapped you in order to get to Potter. He has some vital information and we think you might be able to help us get to him," Voldemort said, Lily could hear him walking closer.

"Why me though? He has a girlfriend, we're not even together anymore," Lily said, wondering why they had taken her and not that stupid Belle.

"But, Miss Evans, you have something of Potter's that Belle does not. You are carrying his child, and you have taken his heart. So you are the perfect tool to get to Potter. Lumos." He said effortlessly and light filled the room. Lily took in her surroundings.

They were in a medium sized room; it had walls made out of hewn stone. It was still dark, as there were no windows. There was nothing in the room but the chair that she was sitting in, and a small cot in the corner. There were two doors that were falling off of the hinges. The room smelled like urine, and her eyes began to tear up at the odor. She looked down at the floor, it was made out of concrete, and there were large brown stains on it. Lily shivered; the room was very cold.

"How did you get all of this information, how did you find out where I was?" she asked, she had performed several charms on herself months ago, so that she couldn't be found.

"Someone was just promoted to my upper ranks because of the information my spy gave me, concerning your whereabouts and pregnancy, I have someone in your little group helping me," Voldemort replied, placing a cold hand on Lily's large belly.

"Don't touch me," she said through gritted teeth.

James was running his hands through his hair frantically.

"What do we do now?" he asked Sirius, who had been completely silent the whole time. "Damn it Sirius! Can't you help at all?" James screamed.

Sirius shrugged. "What can do James? Did you see all of that blood? Do you really think that she's okay?" he asked, looking James in the eye.

"What do you mean did I see the blood? We need to find her before she bleeds out completely. It's not just Lily, that's my child with her, they're both in trouble. How can you just sit there and do nothing?" James bellowed, punching Sirius's jaw.

He heard it crack. Sirius was holding the side of his face, staggering backwards. James tried to hit him again, but Sirius stopped his fist with his hands.

"James calm down," he said, slowly. James tried to struggle against him, but Sirius was stronger than he was. He finally gave up.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius, I have no clue what came over me," he said, looking down.

"It's ok, James, I know you want to find Lily, but we need to alert the proper people first. We can't search the whole of London by ourselves," he said, letting James' hands go.

"Let's go to the Order then," James said, giving Sirius a faint smile.

A few minutes later they were sitting in an emergency meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order was an underground group of the greatest witches and wizards of the age fighting for the light side, trying to take down Voldemort.

"So where do we start looking for her?" James asked quickly, as soon as everyone was there.

"Would you wait Potter? We haven't even started. First we need to get organized, then we need to find her, then we must strategize, then-" Moody started in.

"Lily doesn't have time for that!" James screamed.

"What do you mean she doesn't have time? She's a perfectly capable witch, the brightest in your year! I'm sure she can defend herself for a little while," he said, straightening some papers that were laid out in front of him.

"She can't defend herself," James said quietly, looking straight into Moody's mangled face. A face, which right now he wanted to beat into oblivion with his bare hands.

"What do you mean she can't defend herself?" Dumbledore asked, sensing James' trouble.

"She's pregnant," James said, looking down. He now felt bad for bringing a child into the world at this time, when he was out fighting all of the time.

"And we found blood all over her bed, it seems as if she's having complications," Sirius said, everyone looked at him.

In the room where they were meeting were the Weasleys and the Prewetts. There were also the Longbottoms, and many others, including Peter and Remus. There was also Severus Snape. James, Sirius, and Remus had openly protested Dumbledore's decision to let him into the Order, but Dumbledore hadn't listened to them.

"Well then, I suggest that we make this our top priority," Molly Weasley said, resting her hand on her own belly. She didn't show yet, but she had announced earlier that she was pregnant once again. She saw James looking at her, and smiled at him.

The others looked at James with pity. If one was defenseless and unable to fight at all, they had no chance against Voldemort. They all knew Lily and James' history, and when things had just started to go right for the two of them, there was yet another obstacle.

"Let's get looking then," Dumbledore said, while everyone else nodded. Moody pulled out several maps and blueprints, the Prewetts followed him. Sirius pulled out his own research on Voldemort's whereabouts, and Molly Weasley went into the kitchen to fix food for everyone. Other members were out on assignment, so there would only be a small fraction of the Order looking for Lily.

All of the sudden, James heard a bang upstairs, followed by a series of crashes. They were in the Shrieking Shack, using it for headquarters. James followed the noise. As he got closer, he heard giggles.

"James!" screamed one of the voices. It was Fred, with his two year old twin following him out to James.

"Well hello little Weasleys!" James exclaimed, picking one of the twins up in each arm. "How are all the Weasley children today?" he asked Bill, who had just walked in, followed by Percy.

"We're fine, but I was supposed to be watching those two and Charlie, and the baby-" Bill started.

"Whoa, what do you mean the baby? There's another one?" James asked, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, he's only a month old, anyway I was supposed to be watching them, and the twins got out of their playpen, and then they made a huge mess, running around everywhere…" Bill said trailing off in mid-sentence, "The baby, I left him all alone!" he said, smacking himself.

"Here Bill, you take the twins I'll take the baby," James said, taking pity on the boy. He was just barely done with his first year in Hogwarts; at least he would never make the mistake of having children before he was old enough.

Bill ran back into the little room the boys had been in, and grabbed the baby. He came out two seconds later holding a bundle of blankets.

"His name is Ron," he said handing off the baby to James, "and thanks you so much." James smiled at Bill's expression.

James looked down to the little bundle in his arms. He already had a lot of the trademark Weasley hair. He was a long baby, the longest one he had ever seen at that age. His face was small and pale, with a little nose. His eyes opened when James started to walk, and revealed crystal blue eyes.

James walked down the stairs to go meet Molly in the kitchen, to see what he should be doing with the little one. He walked in to find Molly all alone, humming to herself, while stirring the various large pots that were on the stove.

"You're good with children, James. Lily will be happy to have some help," Molly said, not turning to look at him. "It's amazing how she found you, I'll bet she was looking for you the whole time, love like yours doesn't take a break," she said, looking at James and smiling.

James looked down, "She didn't want to find me, in fact she left because she was pregnant," he said, staring into the baby's eyes, which were focused on his face. "I just got her back, and she was taken from me again."

Molly walked over and sat down next to James, and rubbed his back. James was crying now.

"I can't take it anymore. I have a family now, and I can't do anything to save them or even communicate with them. Voldemort took the love of my life, and my son," he said, it was getting harder for him to breathe because of his sobbing.

"Oh James, its ok. We'll find her, James, we will," she said, starting to cry herself, she didn't like it when other people were hurting, physically or emotionally.

All of the sudden, the door into the kitchen opened and all of the Weasley children walked in.

"We're hungry," whined Charlie.

"George cut Fred's hair with Daddy's wand," Percy said.

"I can't take it anymore, none of them will listen to me!" complained Bill.

"All of you shush, and go to your rooms. Fred, George, stay with me, the rest of you, go!" Molly said glaring at them.

"Why is James crying, Mummy?" asked Bill.

"He's worried about Lily and the baby," Mrs. Weasley said.

"But he's holding the baby," Charlie said, looking confused.

"She means Lily's baby, don't you pay attention?" Percy said, glaring at Charlie.

"But Lily doesn't have a baby," Charlie said getting more confused.

"She's going to have one, idiot," Bill said.

"I don't want to hear that kind of language, Bill," Molly said going back to the stove. Bill rolled his eyes. That was not inappropriate language.

"I saw that Bill," Molly said, pushing the little boys into chairs. "James would you go out and tell everyone else that it's time to eat?" she asked, serving up food.

James nodded and walked out to the meeting room to announce the meal. He went back in to find a seat for himself next to Molly, but instead he took his plate and went upstairs with the baby. At the smell of food, Ron started to cry. James put him down on the bed and conjured up a bottle of warm milk.

"Here you go," he said, easing the bottle into the baby's mouth.

"Some day you and my son will be the best of friends, just like me and Sirius are. You'll start a whole new generation of Marauders with Sirius' kids, and we'll all live happily ever after. With Voldemort gone, the wizarding world won't be at risk anymore and we'll all live long and happy lives," James said smiling. After all, babies make it seem as if the world is all rainbows and butterflies.

James didn't know it, but almost the whole sentence he had just said was going to be completely false.

"I'm cold," Lily said. She knew there was still someone in there watching her. She heard the sound of a spell flying past her, and then all of a sudden a fire roared to life in one of the walls. She was very cold because she was also very wet. She thought that maybe she had wet herself when she woke up to utter darkness.

All of the sudden the door flew open, and Lily was bathed in light. She looked down and saw that she was bleeding. She screamed.

"Shut up, you filthy mudblood!" hissed one of the Death Eaters.

"I'm bleeding, please help me." she pleaded, sobbing.

"Shut up, we'll have to go ask the master," growled the man watching her.

Minutes later Voldemort was with Lily, trying to find out whether she needed medical attention or not.

"Are you in any pain?" asked the Dark Lord. Lily shook her head.

"Crucio!" he said, flicking his wand at Lily, who felt as if every inch of her body was being stabbed by thousands of piercing hot knives.

The curse was lifted suddenly, and Lily felt all of the after effects of the unforgivable wracking her body. She saw Voldemort press his finger to his left forearm. Seconds later Snape appeared.

"Yes, Master?" he said, bowing.

"Help her, do whatever she needs, we can't have her, or the filthy child she is carrying die, or my plan goes down the drain," he said coldly.

Snape nodded. There were guards in the room, and Snape threw them out. He cast a few spells and charms on the door so they could talk freely. "I've only got a little time; I've got your wand. You're in serious danger, and even if that child is Potter's I feel as if I should be helping you, Evans," he said.

"You would help me?" Lily asked in awe.

"Yes, now you're bleeding because you're about to go into premature labor, but I'm going to give you a potion to delay your labor to its originally planned date. Drink this, I'm going to call the Order here," he said, handing her a small vial.

Lily gulped it down gratefully. He said an incantation and suddenly a silver phoenix flew out of his wand and disappeared.

"We need to make it look like you started to fight me. Punch me," he said, lowering his face closer to Lily. Lily shook her head.

"I can barely move," she whispered.

There were many cracks heard and the Order could be seen. James saw Lily immediately and ran to help her.

"You're covered in blood! Are you going to be alright? Is the baby going to be alright?" he asked quickly. Lily nodded.

"Thanks to Snape," she said, smiling faintly.

"We need to get you out of here," James said picking her up. "You're really light, Lily," he said, concerned.

Lily held on to his neck and he disapparated to the Shrieking Shack.

James walked quickly to one of the bedrooms and laid Lily down on the bed, still caked in blood.

"I'll have Molly help you," he said, calling for the older woman. She was up in a flash, and was hovering over Lily. James made to leave, to go help with the fight but Lily stopped him.

"James, I love you," she said feebly.

Author's Note: Well there, it's the longest chapter and I have chosen a Beta so thank you for those that asked for it! I will choose a different beta for **Arranged **I think though, so if you want to do that just ask! I do want to let you all know that updates may be slower now because my dad's in and out of the hospital and between that and my mother's hours I am constantly babysitting my siblings, so be patient please! And thank you for the reviews, it makes me feel really good lately. Thank you especially to tynwfiel (did I spell that right?) my new beta!


	6. Revelations

James smiled at her weakly and waved goodbye as he disapparated away.

"He's really a great guy," Molly said, grabbing a pitcher of water and a glass, "Can you drink this by yourself, or do you need help?" she asked.

"I can't move, and I can't feel a thing, Mrs. Weasley," Lily replied hoarsely.

"Call me Molly," she said smiling, and filling the glass with cool water, and bringing it up to Lily's mouth. Lily nodded, letting the water drip down her chin.

"You need to take a bath and get all that blood off of you," she stated, pulling the blankets back off of Lily.

"I'll help you up," she said kindly. She pulled Lily up carefully and supported Lily on her way to the bathroom, helping her get undressed and into the warm water.

"You need someone to watch you, we don't want you to drown," she said, as Lily closed her eyes.

"Thank you so much, Molly, do you know if my baby is going to be all right?" she asked, placing a hand on her stomach. Lily was completely covered in bubbles.

"He'll be fine," Molly replied, hoping she was right. "He'll be the strongest little boy you'll ever see, just wait."

Lily's eyes flew open. "It's a boy?" she asked, her mouth open wide.

"Why, yes James was beaming while he was telling me about all the things he was going to have his son do with my boys, I'm sorry I thought that you knew," Molly said, reddening.

Lily smiled, "It's ok," she said, "A boy, huh?" she added as an afterthought, smiling.

James appeared at a gory scene. There were spells flying everywhere, and it seemed as if muggles had gotten into the mix with their primitive weapons. Shots were firing and blood was everywhere. Sirius ducked and rolled into James.

"Oh, thank Merlin that you're here!" he said wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"What happened?" James asked, in awe. Sirius pushed him down, and fell to the ground also.

"No time for that, just fight. They've got Dumbledore, and McGonagall. I don't know what happened, but Dumbledore fell and they took the opportunity to capture him. They're all upstairs, we need to get up there and rescue them," Sirius said, complaining.

James and Sirius ran to the stairs, but it seemed too easy, as if no one was aiming for them, but James brushed it off.

They reached the top of the stairs and James looked around. The floors were white but stained with dried blood, as were the walls.

"Sirius, it's too quiet, I think something is wrong, we need backup," James said, looking around. It was silent.

"No, we can take them, just think of how famous we're going to be if we rescue Dumbledore single handed!" Sirius said, excitedly.

"Sirius, we need to turn back now,'' James said looking at Sirius. He knew that was not how Sirius normally acted.

Lily sat back in bed, resting peacefully. She was going to have a little boy! He'd be just like James! Just what she had always wanted and dreamed of, a happy family with James.

"Ah, Miss Evans, I see that you're feeling a little better," said a silky smooth voice from the doorway.

"Severus!" Lily said, surprised. She motioned for him to come over and sit with her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Lily shook her head, "Like crap," she said, pulling the blankets up closer, "And I'm hungry."

Snape laughed, Lily was always hungry. "Anything special you might like?" he asked, pushing hair back out of her face.

She thought for a minute, "How about a bowl of chocolate ice cream, with a pickle on the side?" she asked.

Snape wrinkled up his face in disgust, but returned a few minutes later with her order.

"You have to be careful," he said watching her eat.

"About what?" she asked, her mouth full.

"About James, he makes bad decisions," Snape replied. Lily narrowed her eyes.

"Is Potter's brat a boy or a girl?" he asked.

"My child is a boy, I think," Lily said, sticking the spoon in her mouth again.

"You think?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well Molly said that James said it was a boy, and James asked the doctor behind my back, so I don't really know," she said, explaining it to him.

"Oh," he said sighing. He had always dreamed he would be with Lily, that Lily would have his children, but it would never be, and he accepted that.

"How did the fight go?" Lily asked, switching subjects, sensing that Snape was thinking about their failed relationship.

"We finished quite a long time ago actually; it was fairly easy considering the Dark Lord wasn't prepared. A few were injured, Dumbledore asked me to come up and check on you, and apparently my potion worked seeing as you're not in labor," he replied monotonously.

Lily laughed a little bit. Snape sighed and got up to leave. As he was at the door, Lily stopped him.

"Thank you for what you did to help me," she said, smiling. "Could you send James in when you see him?" she asked. Snape nodded.

Snape got downstairs and saw everyone. Everyone except that blasted Potter. He went over to Dumbledore and asked him where Potter was. Dumbledore didn't know, and neither did anyone else.

James and Sirius approached one of the doors and tried to open it, but James felt the handle burn beneath his hand, he pulled away quickly, swearing.

"Where did they go Sirius?" he asked, shaking his still burning hand.

"That way," Sirius replied, his eyes blank, pointing to the next door. James opened it, easily, too easily.

The room was almost completely dark, lit only by a fire burning brightly. There was a large desk facing it, with a large overstuffed scarlet chair, its back turned towards the door. There were two black cloaked figures with large hoods standing on either side of the desk.

"Avada Kedavra!" and a thump was heard as someone fell to the ground, dead.


	7. Guilt

****

This chapter is dedicated to soft n' fluffy who reviews absolutely everything! You're one of my favorite reviewers, there's about three people I wait for reviews from before I post because they're so reliable and wonderful and you're one of them! You always seem to know what's going to happen though, so maybe this will throw you off a bit.

(The other two are going to have dedications coming up, but remember, I love everyone's reviews!)

Lily got up to go downstairs and find James for herself, since she doubted that Severus would tell him to come up. She walked, as carefully as possible out the door, only to be met by the staircase.

She heard people below her talking in hushed tones, and saw many dark cloaked figures at the bottom of the stairs. She crept down one step. It was silent. She still couldn't hear them, so she crept down a few more. When she was about half way down, one of them looked up.

"Lily? What are you doing?" yelled a shocked voice. Lily was taking another step down, when she heard the voice. She jumped a little, and as you probably know a pregnant woman's balance isn't the greatest. She immediately came crashing down the rest of the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she didn't get up.

"Someone help her!" shouted one of the cloaked figures. Remus fell forward onto his knees trying to get Lily to wake up. James would kill him for sure when he found out.

"Don't move her, you fool!" Moody growled.

"Someone call for help, get our healers down here, immediately!" Molly Weasley called out to the group, they all started to run except for Remus, who was still cradling Lily.

"Is she breathing alright?" Molly asked, looking down at Remus. He nodded.

"Is she going to be alright, Molly? James will never forgive me if she or the baby dies," Remus said, looking extremely worried.

Molly sat down next to him, rubbing his back. "It's going to be alright Remus, she'll be just fine," Molly said, in her famous motherly tone.

James looked to his side, seeing Sirius, his wand outstretched. The cloaked figure to Voldemort's right lay on the ground dead.

"Good work Mr. Black," Voldemort said with pleasure.

James turned to Sirius. "I can't believe you!" he bellowed. Sirius looked at him, amused.

"What can't you believe, that I decided to be loyal to my family for once? The ones who truly care about me?" he asked, ever so smoothly. James stared at Sirius as if he were a multicolored dancing pig.

"You went over to the Dark Side?" he asked in disbelief.

"James can't you see? The Dark side will prevail. Join us, think of how great our names will be!" Sirius said, grabbing James' arms.

James nodded and pulled out his wand, without anyone noticing.

"Expelliarmus!" he said. Sirius flew back into the wall, and slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"What have you done to him Voldemort?" he seethed.

Voldemort smiled cruelly. "Nothing Potter. Absolutely nothing," he replied.

"What do you want with me?" James asked holding his wand out to Voldemort's face.

"I want you to stop the Order. I want them completely destroyed, and after that I want you to kill Snape, he is of no use to me," Voldemort said, staring at the tip of James's wand.

"No," James said, flat out.

"Why not? Snape is your worst enemy, you've been dreaming of this for years, Potter!" Voldemort said, getting up.

"I will not kill Snape, I may hate him, but I don't kill off my inferiors for no reason. I think I could make an exception for you, though. Avada Kedavra!" James said, the jet of green light hitting Voldemort square in the chest. It bounced off immediately and went flying back towards James. He dropped to the ground immediately, dodging the curse.

"Ah Potter, you do not seem to realize that I am your superior. You will never be as great a wizard as I am," he said, getting up and circling around his desk towards James, who was still on the ground.

"I am going to let you leave just this once, I don't enjoy winning when my opponent is not at his best, especially since it's you, Potter. I want to say I beat the famous James Potter at his best," Voldemort said kicking James. James looked at Voldemort puzzled.

"Quickly, before I change my mind!" he yelled. James scrambled up and ran for Sirius. He apparated both of them to the Shrieking Shack.

"I need some help!" yelled a voice from just inside the Shrieking Shack. There were many people bustling around.

People came into the entrance looking at Sirius, who was in James's arms.

"What happened?" one of them asked.

"Voldemort," James said. Some people shuddered at the sound of it, one woman screamed.

"Get over it, we're supposed to bet the top defense against Voldemort, how are we supposed to conquer him if we can't even say his name?" James asked, glaring at them.

Just then he saw two figures dressed completely in white dash for the stairs.

"Who are they?" he asked, laying Sirius down gently.

"Healers," Moody replied, giving James a sympathetic look. That was a first. James knew what the look meant. Lily was in trouble.

James pushed his way through the crowd gathering around Sirius, towards the bottom of the stairs where he had seen the healers run to. There was a small pool of blood on the ground, and more trailing up the stairs. James quickly followed the trail to Lily's room.

He saw healers around the bed, completely blocking his view of Lily. He spotted Remus in the corner, and rushed over.

"What happened? Is she going to be okay? Where's the blood coming from?" James asked, quickly.

Remus looked up, his eyes large with tears. "She fell down the stairs, I'm sorry James, I'm so sorry," he said, looking at what would be his friend for only a few more minutes.

"Why are you sorry? It's not your fault she fell," James replied, trying to look over some of the healers.

"I'm sorry but you two are going to have to leave," a healer, now covered in blood, was saying.

"Is she going to be ok?" James asked.

All he got was another sympathetic look before being ushered out the door. Soon he was downstairs in the kitchen holding a hot cup of tea that Molly had made for him.

"How did she fall?" he asked, looking at the others that were gathered around him.

"We were having a conversation about what had happened to you and Sirius. She came halfway down without us hearing. I looked up and saw her, and yelled caught by surprise. She lost her balance, James. I'm so sorry," Remus said looking anywhere but at James.

James got up and left. Molly followed him.

"You really shouldn't be so hard on him, James, we're all going through tough times now," she said.

"You're going through tough times? Look at Lily and me! We've gone through so much in just a couple of weeks! I found out she left me because she was pregnant, and she's been having complications, then she was bloody KIDNAPPED! She gets back and is fine. Now, she falls down the stairs, she could DIE!" James yelled at her.

Molly stared at him, looking a bit scared by his sudden outburst, but quickly regained her composure.

"Well, your friend knows that he caused part of this, think about how guilty he must feel. All he wants is for you to forgive him. Look at what he has to deal with once a month!" Molly shouted. It was James' turn to stare now.

"How did you find out about that?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"You're not the only observant one with a brain, James!" she shouted, and stormed back into the kitchen.

Sirius brushed by James, also going into the kitchen.

"What is with people today?" James asked himself, and walked back into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Remus, I shouldn't have acted like that, Lily's going to be just fine. I overreacted. Will you forgive me?" James asked, sitting next to his friend.

"I'd love nothing more, Prongs," Remus replied.

James looked at the bandage on the back of Sirius' head. "Sorry about that, Padfoot," James said, wincing. Sirius's hair was still matted with blood.

"You have nothing to feel sorry about, Prongs, I'm the one who should be apologizing," Sirius replied, staring into his bottle of fire whisky.

"What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong!" James said, looking surprised.

"None of this would have happened if I wasn't so weak," Sirius said, sighing.

"You're not weak!" James said. What had gotten into his friends today?

"You're one of the strongest people I know!" Remus said, looking surprised.

"No I'm not, he got me, he put the Imperius curse on me, and I couldn't stop him. I couldn't stop him at all! He told me to kill you, and I almost did. He told me to join him, and I almost did, if it weren't for you! If I could have just resisted the curse, you could have been here with Lily. Then she wouldn't have fallen, and we could all be happy right now!" Sirius said, draining the rest of the bottle.

James leaned over and hugged his friends, all of them were feeling a bit guilty right now.

Just then Snape walked in through the door.

"Ah, I knew that you three had something going on," he drawled, grabbing a cup of tea from the counter.

"What do you want, Severus?" James spat, sitting back down.

"Just to get this guilty feeling off my chest. I would like to apologize to you, Potter. I feel bad because Lily had told me to send you up. I'm afraid because I didn't, she came down here to look for you, and fell," he replied, walking out.

"He's such an insensitive jerk!" Sirius growled, still staring at the door.

"Sirius calm down, it's fine at least he apologized," Remus said.

"He's still in love with Lily," James said, the realization hitting him, "that's the only reason he apologized!"

Suddenly the door to the kitchen swung open and a healer walked in.

"Is Lily ok?" he said, getting up quickly, knocking pitchers of water and food off of the table in the process.

"She'll be fine, we just need to observe her for a while."

"Why? You said she's fine, if she's fine, you wouldn't have to watch her!" Sirius said quickly, also getting up.

"Sit down, both of you!" said McGonagall, walking in with a second healer.

"Lily is in serious condition right now, and it's vital that she's not alone at any time. When she fell she hit her head very hard. She's still not awake, we think there is some serious damage to the spinal cord as well, which could complicate things when she goes into labor," said the first healer.

"Is my baby ok?" asked James, feeling even more worried.

The healer nodded, "He's fine, but we must keep a watch on him too because when your wife-"

"She's not my wife," James said quickly.

"When Lily fell your child's umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, he'll be fine now since we got it off, but if he moves too much he could get wrapped in it again," she said, looking only at James.

James sighed, "Can I go see Lily now?" he asked, impatiently.

The healer nodded and James dashed up the stairs.

Lily looked so helpless lying there in the bed. So helpless, and pale. She looked about half of her size.

James rushed to the chair by her side. There was a variety of medical equipment hooked up to her, almost like at a muggle hospital. He could see that she was struggling to breathe. There was a large gash on her cheek.

"Lily, you're going to get better, because I would never forgive you if you left me now. I can't live knowing you're not there when I come home. Do you know how hard the last eight and a half months have been for me?" he whispered. Somehow he knew that Lily was able to hear him.

"Lily I love you so much, you mean the world to me, and now we're going to have a baby! You don't know how happy that makes me! You've got to get better so you can have the baby without complications, you've got to, Lily," he said, kissing her softly on the lips. As he did so he heard alarms going off. He looked at one of the monitors, and it started to flash.

He heard footsteps running up the stairs, and the door slammed open. One of the healers pushed him out of the way. Everything started to slow down for James. Everything was in slow motion.

"She's not breathing!" one of the healers said.

"Her heart stopped!" said the other one. More healers came in and James was pushed from the room. The last thing he saw was a multi-colored flash of spells and charms.

Author's Note: Ok, so how was that? We have a little more drama. I personally love this chapter, but that's just me. So review and tell me what you think, or what you think is going to happen or what you hope will happen.

Thank you, to: **sirius'girl4eva99, SweetSouthernGal, and JediGurl **who reviewed last chapter! I love you guys in the straightest way possible, lol!


	8. July 31st

This chapter is dedicated to: SweetSouthernGal, who has reviewed absolutely everything that I've written, even my worst piece with so much enthusiasm! Thank you so much!

James sat across the hall from Lily's room. He had been waiting there for almost forty-five minutes when one of the healers came out.

James looked up hopefully, "Can I see her now?" he asked, his face lighting up.

The healer gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Potter," she said, taking her gloves off.

"What happened to Lily and the baby?" James asked, getting up and walking over to the door.

"We don't know exactly, she stopped breathing, then her heart stopped. We couldn't revive her. We weren't able to deliver the baby in time, he died also," she replied looking down.

"No," James whispered. He fell to the ground in tears. "NO! THEY'RE NOT DEAD!" he shouted, pounding on the wall.

"If you'd like to go say goodbye to them now, we'll just take care of the bodies, so there's less stress for you," she said, helping James up, and opening the door for him.

He only saw that there was blood everywhere. On the floor, covering the healers who were filing out of the room, you could even see it on the blankets that had been thrown all over the room. They were soaked in it.

He sat down in the now familiar chair that stood by Lily's bed. She lay completely still, as if she were sleeping. She looked peaceful, and she probably was, as she was in a better place now. Her eyes were closed, and her hair was splayed out across the pillow. There was a sheet covering her lower half, and he pulled it down. He could see that they had attempted to get the baby out using a muggle technique, a caesarean. He bent over and kissed the very top of her still large belly.

"Goodbye, baby," he whispered to it. He brought himself to once again look at Lily's face. It was now tinged with blue, from lack of oxygenated blood.

"I love you, Lily," he whispered, and kissed her one last time before leaving her forever.

Seeing that James had finally left, the female healer walked back in, and chuckled to herself a bit.

"You're such a fool Potter, such a fool," she said to herself, and cast a charm upon Lily, then left with her. But she didn't end up in a morgue, or even a hospital. She wasn't at an undertaker's. She was at a far worse place. She was in the Riddle's Mansion.

"I see you've brought the bitch back, and her little half-blood brat. He doesn't suspect a thing, does he?" Voldemort asked.

The woman shook her head. "The plan is going perfectly. He fell for the fake incisions and everything!" she said, excitedly. The woman speaking was of medium height and you could see a few blonde curls bouncing in front of her round face.

"Good work, Bella, good work," he said, smiling.

For the next few weeks, James stayed in his room day and night, only leaving up to go to the bathroom.

Molly and Sirius brought him food, and the only person he allowed in was baby Ron. He felt that he could really open up to him. You could hear James sobbing much of the time. He had taken the loss of Lily and the baby hard.

On July 31st, he finally came out. He looked like a completely different person. He was thinner, as he hadn't been eating. His hair was finally tamed, but only because it was weighed down in grease that rivaled Snape's hair.

First he took a shower, during the past few weeks he had completely disregarded his personal hygiene and grooming. He headed downstairs in fresh clean clothes with his hair still wet, and was greeted with many sympathetic looks and some teary hugs.

Sirius was sitting at the table, talking with Dumbledore. He looked very excited and happy. James couldn't believe how anyone could be happy at a time like this, but he still sat down next to his best friend. He grabbed a cup of coffee, and sipped it, listening to Sirius talk. Apparently he hadn't noticed James sitting down next to him. When he did notice, he shut up immediately.

"How much did you hear?" he asked, glaring at James. James personally didn't think that that was the way to treat your best friend, who had just lost the love of his life and his son, but this was Sirius, so he let it go.

"I heard nothing, Sirius, but what does it matter?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Anything that Sirius had to tell Dumbledore, he could tell James.

"Are you sure you didn't hear a word I said?" he asked.

"Padfoot, I'm a Marauder, would I lie to you?" James asked in return. Sirius now raised his eyebrow.

"That's a trick question, Prongs," he replied.

"Mr. Black, I think that you should tell him what you have just told me," Dumbledore said, it was the first thing James had heard from him the whole time he had been down there.

"James, I think Lily is still alive, which means that you're baby might still be alive as well," Sirius said, for once, the tone of voice matching his name.

"How? I saw her right after she…d-died," James said, it was still hard for him to say that Lily was dead. His mind still thought that she was somewhere else, and she would be coming back soon.

"My _brother_-" Sirius started, saying the word brother as if it were the most disgusting thing in the world. "Regulus contacted me this morning. He wanted me to help him escape from Voldemort. He said that he couldn't handle it anymore. He also mentioned that Voldemort has been pretty _happy_ lately, that for once the Dark Lord's plans are coming together. He said that there was a prisoner that looked a lot like Lily, and then he went on about a prophecy, or at least that's what I think he said," Sirius said, all in one breath.

"I was witness to the prophecy that Sirius is talking about. Your and Lily's unborn child fits the prophecy perfectly, that is, if he is born tonight. Although there is another, lesser known family that also fits the prophecy, however Voldemort doesn't know that," Dumbledore said, that famous twinkle in his eye.

"Let's find her then," James said, putting down his cup.

"It's not that easy," Sirius said.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"We have no clue where she is," Dumbledore supplied.

James groaned. This was getting them absolutely nowhere.

"Well, we don't have much time to find her then, yesterday was her due date," James said.

"It's fine, you just sit back, we'll take care of it James," Dumbledore said, putting a hand on James's shoulder.

"I can't just sit back and watch while Lily's life is on the line!" James shouted.

Sirius looked surprised at James's sudden outburst. "Calm down, Prongs."

"I will NOT calm DOWN!" he yelled, "Lily is in trouble, and I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"

Sirius took out his wand and stunned James. He fell to the ground. "I'm sorry, mate," Sirius said when he walked by, trying to plan out the best way to get Lily back for James.

Lily woke up surrounded by darkness. She tried to sit up, but found out that she couldn't. Suddenly a wand was lit and she could see Voldemort's horrible face. She screamed.

"Miss Evans, I am not that bad to look at," he said chuckling to himself. "Do you know why I brought you here?" he asked.

"Because you're a sick bastard who likes to see people suffer?" Lily asked.

"Oh you're close, Miss Evans, very close," Voldemort replied. He didn't seem angry at what she had said, but rather amused.

"I brought you here because I want your child. I need him, to fulfill a prophecy. As soon as you deliver I will let you go," he said.

Lily felt slightly relieved, but only slightly. Her child was still in great danger. All she wanted right now was James, he'd be able to help her out of this.

"Now, is there anything that I can get to make your stay here more comfortable?" Voldemort asked, a little bit too nicely.

"All I want is James," Lily muttered, not expecting him to hear her.

"James it is," he said, and quickly summoned one of his followers, whispering some instructions in his ear. The death eater nodded quickly and disappeared.

Lily rolled over so she was no longer facing the horrid man, but he turned her back around. Lily winced a little.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, there was a strange look was in his eyes. Something almost like caring.

"I'd be much better if you weren't around," Lily snapped.

She'd done it now. She had really pissed him off. He got up right away, throwing the chair he was in to the ground. He started to perform violent curses on her. She was writhing in pain, and knew that this was no good for her son.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" bellowed a familiar voice. It was James.

Lily couldn't believe that he was actually here. Voldemort knew it wasn't worth it to curse her,

and left the room.

James immediately rushed to Lily's side. There was sweat gathering on her forehead, and she was crying. She could still feel pain from the curses.

"Lily," he whispered, almost not daring to believe it.

Lily smiled a little, but then winced. A sharp pain cut through the lower half of her body. She screamed.

"Are you alright?" James asked, a look of fear in his eyes.

Lily nodded, clenching her teeth together.

"Do the others know where you are?" she asked. James nodded, while Lily winced again in pain.

"Lily are you sure you're not in labor?" he asked, looking down at her.

"I don't know, James," she said, near tears as another wave of pain went through her.

James put out his hand, and she grabbed it thankfully. It was helping her a little, but not enough.

He let go for a second, and she looked disappointed.

"Lily are you able to sit up a bit?" he asked. She nodded and moved up ever so slightly, her back was still hurting her. James got behind her and moved so that one leg was on each side of her and she could lean back on him. He wrapped his arms around her, and let her take both of his hands. It seemed a lot more effective.

"How far apart are they?" James asked. Lily was sobbing now, and it was getting harder for her to breathe. He wished that the others would get there soon, he was afraid that something might go wrong.

"About four minutes," Lily said, gasping for breath.

The current contraction stopped, and Lily collapsed back into James. She let go of his hands and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"I love you James," she whispered. James smiled a bit, rubbing one hand through her hair, massaging her head, the other hand was rubbing her belly, realizing that the prophecy really had to be about them, but what was it?

She tensed up as yet another contraction hit her, and this time her grip on his hands weakened, and she fell back into him.

"Lily," he said, worried. She didn't respond. Just then the door flew open and someone walked in.

Author's Note: Alright, I'm posting this a bit earlier than usual because my dad's going in for surgery tomorrow, and I doubt I'll have time to update this over the weekend like I normally do. Then today I found out that my grandmother is also in the hospital, although no one will tell me why…although I think that it might be further complications to her MS…who knows? Anyway I would like to thank for reviewing:

Flame Of Desire- I can to leave you with a cliffhanger…it's so much fun, and it keeps more people reading that way too, at least I hope it does!

really-big-HP-freak- Please don't fall, you might hurt yourself and if you hurt yourself, who would be reading this? And then if you fell out of your chair you could sue me, and that wouldn't be very good.

Jackie G- No Harry is born, this isn't exactly AU, but I have to work really hard to keep what's coming in canon, I'm still trying to fit it together though so the whole timeline works out. And they weren't really at their best when they died, don't you think? I mean, he surprised them really, so I don't really think it's a fair fight, but oh well, I'll address that later.

soft n' fluffy- How did you read and review this so fast? I swear I had it up for about five minutes and I got this e-mail saying that you had reviewed already, you're awesome!

Patronus99- You're one of my favorite reviewers, and I'm glad you like my story so much!

WickedWitchSirstersMioneGin- I couldn't make sense of your name at first, but then I finally understood after I read your bio…I love it, it's so creative!

Well, read and tell me what you think, I don't really like how this chapter turned out, but it'll have to do. I am really doubting this one.


	9. There For You

The room was bathed in light for a few moments until the door closed again. James could hear footsteps coming towards the small cot that he and Lily were on.

"Lumos," he heard the voice whisper. A face was lit up, a man's face, but that was all that James could see. He couldn't make out who it was.

The man approached them, and placed James's hand on a small orb he was carrying. Before James could protest they were swept away, feeling the all too familiar hook-behind-the-navel feeling you get with portkeys.

James thought it was a portkey, but it was taking considerably longer to get to wherever it was they were going. Finally, they fell to the ground, in a very bright place.

James got up to make sure Lily was still breathing. She was, but very slowly, and she seemed to be having trouble.

"Who are you and where are we?" James said, getting up and pointing his wand at the strange man.

He looked around, they weren't really anywhere, it was very bright, that was all he could see. No distinct shapes, or any solid objects, just solid white. He looked back at the man, andthe man faded away.

The brightness quickly turned back to normal colors. There were people bustling around. And he was in a bed. Everything was blurry; his glasses had been taken off. He felt around until he found them and put them on, a bit crooked in his hurry.

There were nurses, and to James's surprise, doctors. A smiley doctor walked over to his bed. The man was very tall, and all of the nurses around seemed to swoon at the sight of him.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"How's Lily?" James said, not even bothering to ask the doctor's question.

"So that would be the name of the lovely lady that was brought in with you," the doctor replied, also not answering the question.

"Where's Lily?" James asked, a little louder.

"She's up on the next floor in the OB/GYN," he replied, knowing that he was not going to get anywhere at this rate.

James got up, ripping bandages off of his arms, and taking tubes out.

"You can't leave!" the doctor shouted at him. James kept walking towards the elevator.

"Security!" he heard people yelling behind him. James walked faster, the elevator was getting closer, it was open, people were walking in. If only he could go a little faster.

"Hold the door!" he yelled ahead, as they started to close. The person nearest the door obliged.

James started to sprint towards it, and made it in before the security guards could stop him.

"Next floor," he said, panting. The other two people in the elevator nodded. They looked familiar; they looked a lot like Lily.

James ran his hand through his hair.

"Will this be your first child?" the woman asked.

James nodded, "How did you know?" he asked. The woman chuckled a bit.

"They're all like that at first," she replied. James smiled.

"It's not fatherhood I'm afraid of. I'm just worried for the health of my baby, and his mother. We were just in an… accident," he said.

"It'll turn out fine. Well I hope to see you soon…" she said, not knowing his name.

"James. James Potter," he supplied.

"I'm sure that everything will work out, James," her husband said. James had almost forgotten about him because of his silence.

The doors opened and James walked quickly to the nurse's station. They were all sitting around talking. They were also ignoring him. He stood there for a good five minutes before they asked him what he needed.

They finally, and reluctantly, gave him the number of Lily's room. He burst in, to find the couple from the elevator in there. They looked surprised.

Lily was lying on the bed, wincing and breathing hard. There were nurses and a doctor surrounding her. One noticed him.

"I'm going to need you to leave, sir," she said, ushering him out the door.

"But that's-" he started. The door shut behind him. He settled for the waiting room. Which was not at all a happy place.

The people who designed this room had obviously wanted to make it a cheery place, but it wasn't. James could hear all of the screams and moans from mothers to be and babies alike. The walls were a bright cream color, with those chairs that only hospitals get. They were an ugly purple color.

James had his head in his hands, and was very patiently waiting for someone to come and tell him that Lily was ok, and the baby was fine. Then to his surprise the woman from the elevator came in.

"James," she said quietly. His head shot up instantly.

"Lily, she's-" he started.

"She's doing fine for now, she wants you to come, they said that the baby is crowning," she replied quickly.

James leapt up from his chair and followed the woman back to Lily's room. He immediately was at her side. She smiled when she saw him. James bent over and kissed her quickly.

"You're doing great," he whispered quietly.

Lily smiled a bit as he said that. Even though she was smiling, she looked miserable. But even though she was miserable, she was still beautiful. Even though her hair was plastered to her head with sweat, she was still beautiful. Even though she looked tired and worn out she still looked beautiful. That is until she was hit with another contraction. Then she looked furious, her face contorted with pain. James felt so sorry for her at that time. He wished that there was some way he could help her.

"One more push should do it Lily," said the doctor. Lily apparently listened and she pushed with every ounce of power she could gather up.

"And you've got a little boy!" said one of the nurses happily, holding him up.

Lily looked relieved and fell back down into her pillow, breathing deeply, her eyes closed peacefully. All of the sudden they flew open.

"Why isn't he crying?" she asked quickly, sitting up. The nurses looked at her, as if they too had just realized this.

"He's not breathing!" called one of the nurses.

The doctor ran over to where they were cleaning up the baby.

"Bag him," he said. One of the nurses started attaching a mask over his mouth, and squeezing a little bag. Lily could see his little chest rising up and down.

"He's stable now," the doctor said as he uncovered the baby's mouth. Suddenly the room was filled with the cries of a little baby.

One of the nurses brought the baby over to Lily who held him hesitantly. Tears were running down her face.

"Oh James, look he's got your hair," she said quietly.

"I pity him," James replied, laughing. This woke the little baby up, and they could see his eyes for the first time.

"Oh," they said in unison. They were surprised. Babies were supposed to have blue eyes at birth, but theirs had Lily's eyes.

He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Lily smiled and tried to shift over.

"James, something's wrong," she said, panic filling her voice.

"Lily it's ok. He's doing just fine," James replied, not quite knowing what she meant.

"No, James I-" she started but then fell back down into her pillow.

The monitors that she was hooked to started to beep. The nurses and doctors rushed back in. One took the baby from Lily's arms and placed him in a cradle on wheels.

"She's crashing!" he heard the doctor say.

"What's happening?" James asked.

"I'm sorry sir, but you're going to have to leave," said the doctor. James was once again ushered out the door.

He headed down to the nursery instead of the waiting room this time. He looked at the rows of babies, immediately he spotted his. He was wailing. _He's a smart one_.

The nurse in the room picked the tiny baby up, saw James and smiled, at the same time she motioned for him to come in.

James opened the door cautiously and closed it quietly, so as not to wake any of the other babies.

"This one's yours, right?" she asked. James nodded, as she handed him over to James.

"He's been crying ever since he was brought in, I'm glad you came, maybe you can calm him down," she said.

James smiled at his son. "He's crying because his mummy's not doing too well. All of the monitors are beeping like crazy and the doctors are all worried, aren't they?" he asked, knowing he wouldn't get any type of response from the baby.

"Well he's got a very good brain under all that hair then, he's certainly got the most hair I've ever seen on a baby," she said.

"Well, that hair gets worse as time goes by," James replied, smiling, "You wouldn't happen to have a phone I could use, would you?" he asked. The nurse nodded towards a phone over in the hall.

"Thanks," he said and headed out the door. Quickly he punched in Sirius's number. It was answered on the third ring.

"What do you want?" he yelled into the phone. There was music blaring in the background, James could hear people yelling also.

"Sirius, it's me, James. Listen, I'm at the hospital, Lily went into labor and-"

"WHAT?" Sirius yelled again.

"Can you just come down here; she's not...doing well. I need someone to here with me. They won't let me see her. Could you bring Remus and Peter down too?" he asked. He felt like he was going to cry. "We're on the fourth floor of that muggle hospital downtown. I'll be in the waiting room," James said. Sirius said he'd be down as soon as he possibly could.

Sirius pushed his way through the apartment. They were in the middle of a party, but right now James seemed a lot more important than getting laid.

"EVERYONE OUT NOW!" he bellowed once he was in the middle of the room.

Everyone groaned in protest. Remus came out of the crowd and up to Sirius, a girl on each arm.

"What do you think you're doing calling off the party? Everyone is going to hate us now!" he seethed.

"THERE'S BEEN A FAMILY EMERGENCY, EVERYONE OUT!" Sirius shouted again.

The two girls that were hanging on Remus left sullenly along with all of the other guests.

"What happened?" Remus asked.

"James called. He's been at the hospital the whole time with Lily. Apparently she went into labor and now she's having complications. He wants us to come down," Sirius replied, throwing on a more presentable shirt.

"PETER! COME ON!" he yelled. There was no reply from Peter.

"Well we'll just have to find him later," Remus said, also putting a more presentable shirt on. Their previous ones had had stains all over them from Merlin knows what.

Minutes later the two were on an elevator to the fourth floor of the hospital. They quickly ran for the waiting room. James was sitting there staring out of the window.

"How's Lily?" Sirius asked.

James shrugged. "I don't know, they're still working on her I guess. I haven't heard anything since they kicked me out," James replied monotonously.

"Have you heard anything about the baby?" Remus asked. James smiled.

"He's fine, would like to see him?" James replied, looking excited.

They nodded and followed James down the hall towards the nursery. This time he only stood in front of the window looking in. The nurse smiled and waved at him.

"Looks like you've made a new friend, James," Sirius said laughing.

"Guess which one he is," James said, grinning. Sirius and Remus looked at all of the babies for the longest time.

"That one," Remus said finally.

"Which one?" James asked. He wasn't able to tell where Remus was pointing.

"That one, third up and second to the left," Remus said, proud of his accomplishment.

"Yeah," James replied.

"How did you know that, Moony?" asked Sirius.

"It says on the little tag in front that he belongs to James Potter and Lily Evans," Remus said smugly.

"Oh," Sirius and James said in unison.

"What are you guys going to name him?" Remus asked.

"Oh I know what you should name him!" Sirius said excitedly.

"What's that, Padfoot?" Remus said, he knew where this was going.

"You should name him Sirius Remus Potter," he replied.

"No," James and Remus said in unison.

"It was just an idea," Sirius said, pouting.

"I need to go sit down, let's go back to the waiting room," James said, yawning.

Lily had no clue what was going on. She could see the doctors working on her, but she couldn't communicate with them at all. They were really hurting her, but she couldn't feel the lower half of her body. She was really scared, and all she wanted was James. She knew that he could make her feel better. But he wasn't in the room. Neither were her parents. She had no clue where they had gone.

Most of all she was scared for her baby. She didn't know whether he was alive right now or not. She didn't know how James was holding up. He was never able to cope well with trauma. She wondered how her parents were doing. She kept worrying until everything went black.

James was back in the waiting room when one of the doctors from Lily's room came in. James stood up.

"Is Lily going to be alright?" he asked. The doctor looked down.

"Can we sit?" he asked

James nodded and sat down. Sirius was on his right and Remus was on his left. The doctor pulled a chair up across from them.

"Miss Evans is not doing so well. She's stable for now, but we need to have her here for awhile. We think that she may be paralyzed from the waist down. We're not sure, there's still a chance she'll turn out just fine, but we just wanted you to know, so you're prepared for it," the doctor said, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair.

"Can I see her?" James asked eagerly.

The doctor nodded and James rushed out to Lily's room. Sirius got up to follow him, but Remus pushed him back down.

"Sit," he growled.

"I want to go see Lily too," Sirius whined.

"Let James have his time with her first," Remus replied, casually glancing through an Outdoorsman magazine. Sirius picked up a Glamour magazine and began to look through tips on how to shave his bikini line.

James cautiously entered the room not knowing quite what to expect. He could see Lily's shrunken form on the bed. It looked as if the monitors she was hooked up to before were breeding. There were many more than before. There were tubes running out of her arms, and there was another one stuck into her nose providing oxygen for her.

He walked into the room a little bit further and saw the couple from the elevator sitting next to her, the woman was in a chair weeping, and the man was standing behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

He turned around to leave and come back a little later but the older man saw him.

"We'll leave for a little while now, you can have your time with her," he said quietly, urging the woman to come with him.

"No, Harold, we have a right to be here now, we're her parents," she said, half sobbing.

"And he's the father of Lily's baby, he has just as much of a right to be here as we do. Let's go see our grandson now Rose," he replied in a firm voice. Rose got up and kissed Lily on her forehead, and pushed some hair out of her face.

"Take care of her, would you, James?" she asked as she left. James nodded and took the seat that she had previously occupied, picking up Lily's hand as he sat. He stroked it with his thumb. It felt very cold and clammy. Her eyes were closed, and her face was still shining with sweat. Her lips were a bright red color.

"Lily you have to be able to see our son," he whispered. There was no reaction. "He's the greatest thing that has happened to us," he went on. "You need to stay strong so he can grow up and have a mother; you know I won't be able to take care of him by myself. He'll grow up to be corrupted by Sirius if he doesn't have you around," he said.

Her eyes flickered open for a second. He squeezed her hand a little harder. Her hands were now shaking violently and soon the rest of her body followed.

"We need a doctor in here!" he yelled. For the third time that day, he was pushed out of the room.

Author's Note:I won't be doing review responses this chapter so I can get this up faster for you. Well, how was that? I'm sorry for the delay, I just haven't been up to writing due to the current events in my life. I hope you guys don't hate me. I will try to update this one at least one more time this week, but I might stop for another week on this one so I can get caught up on my other stories. Anyway things are better on this end. R/R please!


	10. Nameless

Author's Note: Ok, so here it is, chapter ten! I just wanted to let everyone know that lately on my posts on xanga at the bottom I give out a bit of information on how far along with chapters I am and excuses for why it's taking so long, plus you get to find out about my day to day life, if anyone cares. Oh and for the chapter name:

1) I couldn't think of a name

2) Harry kind of isn't named yet..so

ON WITH THE STORY and sorry for the delay.

Oh and my xanga is: and if you read that will you please tell me in a comment that you're from so that I can figure out whether I should keep doing it.

James stayed in the waiting room for the rest of the morning. Every once in a while he would walk by Lily's room to see if he could go in, but every time he was shooed out, all of the nurses kept telling him that she wasn't ready for visitors. James thought that was a very stupid thing to say; after all James was not just any visitor, he was Lily's...

James didn't know what the status of their relationship was at the moment. They weren't married, and they weren't engaged, he knew that for sure. Lily had made sure that he knew that. The rejection still stung a little bit. 'We're not boyfriend and girlfriend, and saying we're friends is an understatement,' he thought. He arrived at the conclusion that James was Lily's significant other, and vice-versa. For now that would have to do.

James leaned forward, rubbing his temples. It had been one long day, and one long night. He got up to grab another coffee. It seemed like James was depending on coffee at the moment. He had never appreciated it this much before.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans walked in at that moment, looking a bit cheerful.

"Good morning," Mr. Evans said brightly.

"Good morning," James replied, sort of in a mumble. He was still very tired.

" Lily is allowed to have visitors now, they just told us when we walked past her room on the way here, and we've decided to let you see her first," Harold Evans said in his deep voice.

"We'll be downtown looking through the shops for a present for our grandson, we can't wait to see them again. Take care James!" Mrs. Evans said, waving goodbye and exiting the room.

"Goodbye you two, I'll see you when you get back," James called out, rubbing a hand through his hair. He was finally going to get to see Lily again.

The door was open just a crack and he could hear voices. He knocked twice on the door and waited.

"Come in," replied a cheery female voice.

James opened the door and went inside the sunny room.

Lily looked a bit better. She looked a lot stronger too. The nurse was showing her how to feed the baby.

James averted his eyes, "I can come back later," he said, and turned around.

"No stay James," Lily said with a smile on her face.

"I suppose that's enough milk for him at the moment," said the nurse quietly, pulling the baby gently away from Lily so she could pull up her hospital gown.

The nurse then laid the baby in Lily's arms and left.

James was still standing by the door.

"Come and sit down," Lily said motioning towards the chair beside her bed. James sat down cautiously.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, with a look of concern in his eyes.

"A lot better, but the doctors say I'm still pretty weak, and my immune system can't handle much for some reason. They also said that my blood pressure is really high, but it always is when I'm around you. At least it can't affect the health of the baby anymore," she replied with a smile.

James felt a little bit guilty. He supposed that's why she left; to protect the health of the baby.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" she asked.

"No, not really. That's been the last thing on my mind lately. Although, Sirius thought of one," James said, grinning.

"Oh and what is that?" Lily asked, an eyebrow cocked.

"Sirius," James replied, laughing a little bit. Lily laughed too, but then winced in pain.

"Are you ok?" James asked quickly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I just still hurt really badly. I can't feel most of my legs, they told me I could be paralyzed from the knees down. Personally, I had never heard of that, but apparently it's possible," Lily said, breathing deeply.

All of the sudden there was a rumbling sound down the street. James got up and looked out the window.

"Oh no," he said quietly.

"What happened?" Lily asked, a look of worry crossing her face.

"Voldemort is attacking down the street, in plain sight of muggles, too!" James said quietly.

"He wouldn't come here would he?" Lily asked, looking scared, and holding the baby closer to her. He started wailing.

"I think we should get out of here, Lily," James said pulling out his wand.

"I can't leave yet, we're not supposed to leave for a couple of days!" Lily replied looking scared.

James shook his head, "I'm sorry Lily, but we've got to go," he said with a flick of his wand.

The next thing Lily knew she was in James's apartment. She had landed softly on the bed and the baby was in her arms sleeping peacefully, but not for long.

"JAMES! DO YOU KNOW THAT COULD HAVE BEEN SERIOIUSLY DANGEROUS FOR YOUR SON?" she screamed. James nodded.

The baby then woke up and started to cry. James held out his arms and Lily passed the baby over carefully. He immediately stopped crying.

"It would have been worse to stay there, Evans," James said coldly.

Lily looked very disappointed. "I thought we were past that," she said quietly, "We have a son, James, I think we're beyond surnames."

"I'll watch him for a while. You get your rest, you need it," James said, getting up and walking towards the door.

Lily smiled and rolled over, with difficulty. "If he starts to cry please come wake me up, he might be hungry, and James…thank you," she said closing her eyes and pulling the blankets over her.

James nodded and left the room, closing the door slowly behind him. The baby in his arms wriggled a bit and opened his eyes.

James took another good look at his son's eyes. He was amazed that a baby could have such vibrant eyes at birth. They were exactly like Lily's. Other than that he looked just like James did when he was a baby.

James looked up at the clock that was on the wall behind him. It was six, just about time for dinner.

Suddenly, the large apartment was filled with the cries of the baby. "Shh….please stop crying!" James whispered soothingly. James didn't know what to do, he started walking the baby around, that didn't help. He attempted to change the baby's diaper, but it was clean; so he went in and shook Lily awake.

Lily rolled over onto her back and started to rub her eyes. She winced as the wails of her son reached her ears, quickly sat up, resting her back against the headboard and held out her arms. James carefully passed the baby over.

"His diaper is fine and he's not tired, so that leaves him starving," James said laying down on the other side of the bed and attempting to rest. Lily was still in her hospital gown. She quickly pulled down the right side of it and attempted to feed the baby, but he wouldn't eat.

"James we should have stayed at the hospital. He's refusing to eat!" Lily said angrily.

"Well is there something else he could want, maybe he's teething," James said rubbing his temples.

"Newborns don't have teeth," Lily said shifting in the bed. She was regaining the feeling in her legs, but she knew it would be stupid to attempt to get up. She knew she wouldn't be able to walk or even stand up yet. She could barely move her legs to shift upwards.

Lily started to hand the baby over to James when she heard the door to the apartment open.

"James who would be coming to your apartment today? Everyone thinks I'm in the hospital, right?" Lily asked nervously.

James bit his lip, "I'm going to see who it is. If I call for Sirius then that's your cue to get out of here with the baby, do you have your wand?"

Lily nodded, "Where should I apparate to?" she asked.

"Go to Peter's," James replied getting up and going to answer the door.

Lily waited as she heard the door open. She heard a voice say her name, and then the voices faded and the door closed.

Minutes later the door to the bedroom opened. Lily screamed, it was only James though.

"Lily, I need to tell you something," he said quietly. He looked very sad.

"Ok," Lily replied quietly, "What is it?" she asked with a worried look towards the baby.

"Give me the baby first; Sirius is going to watch him for awhile," James said holding out his arms. Lily handed over the now sleeping baby, and James walked out the door out to where she assumed Sirius was. A few seconds later James returned.

He sat down next to Lily and wrapped an arm around her. "Lily…your parents…they're dead," he said.


	11. The Makeshift Proposal

Lily sat there, staring at James.

"Dead?" she asked. James nodded.

"How?"

"You know that building down the street Voldemort attacked? That's where they were. I'm so sorry, Lily, it's my fault," James said quietly; there were tears forming in his eyes.

"It's not your fault, you didn't do anything, James," Lily replied with a confused look on her face.

"Yes it is, they decided to let me see you first this morning. If I had let them go first they would've been in there with you instead of shopping for the baby. If I could have just gone down there instead of leaving with you I probably could have done something about it," James said quickly.

Lily looked surprisingly calmer than she had been a minute ago, "It's not your fault, James. I think that's it's better for them to be…dead than having to worry about Voldemort for the rest of their lives. I was just about to tell them this morning that they were in danger because of the baby and me," Lily replied.

James wondered why Lily wasn't acting sad about the news of her parents' death.

"What do you mean they were in danger because of you? Just because they're related to you doesn't put them at that much of a higher risk." James asked curiously.

"James I have to tell you something, it's the reason I-" Lily started, but she was interrupted by the baby's cries echoing around the apartment, Sirius walked in immediately.

"Hello fair Lily, how are you feeling?" he asked passing the baby over to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek as he did so.

"Better, Sirius, how are you?" replied with a small smile.

"I'm sure I'm feeling a lot better than you are," he said returning the smile, Lily laughed again.

Lily looked down at the little boy in her arms and smiled, "Hello Harry," she cooed. He stopped crying immediately.

"Harry?" Sirius and James asked at the same time.

"Yes, Harry James Potter," Lily said with a tone of satisfaction in her voice.

"You mean you'll let him take my last name?" James asked doubtfully.

"Yes, and I will too, if the offer still stands," Lily replied, looking at James nervously.

"I'm going to go," Sirius said awkwardly as he opened the door. Lily and James didn't notice.

Lily waited with bated breath. James still didn't say anything, "Well it's ok if you don't want to, I wouldn't either if I were rejected so many times, it's just, well I guess, I mean-" Lily couldn't figure out what she was trying to say, it was just so complicated. Tears were welling up in her eyes. One fell onto Harry's face.

James saw it right away, "Oh Lily don't cry, I still want to marry you, I just, well I just didn't know what to say. You kept rejecting me, I thought that it might have been a cruel joke," James said quickly, wrapping Lily and Harry in a big hug.

"I'm so sorry for that James, I always wanted to say yes, but I just couldn't," Lily said through her tears.

"Why didn't you say yes then?" James asked.

"I can't tell you, James," Lily said quietly, pulling away from his embrace.

"Please tell me, Lily. How can I fix whatever it was I did if I don't even know what it is?" James asked, holding out his arms for the baby. Lily handed him over and James cradled him.

"James, I can't it's just that we're in a lot of danger with Voldemort around now. More trouble than most wizards and their families. Please just listen and don't interrupt, I don't want to tell you in the first place, but I figure you should know what you're getting yourself into by wanting to marry me," Lily said quietly.

James nodded, his eyes pleading for her to get on with whatever it was that she was keeping from him. She took a deep breath, remembering what had happened the day she found out she was pregnant.

_

* * *

Lily was sitting in the kitchen making dinner for James and herself. All of the sudden the door opened and James walked in, followed by Sirius, Remus, and Peter. There were three young women, wearing almost nothing, standing in the door behind them._

"Hey James," Lily said happily, while walking up to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. "Are you ready for dinner, honey?" she asked, "I have some good news," she said smiling even wider. James grabbed her arms and untangled them from his waist and pushed her away.

"Get off of me, they're all watching," James said angrily. She could smell alcohol on his breath.

Lily stayed in the spot where James had pushed her away. She knew that he didn't know what he was doing to her, and this was the first time that she could ever remember him being that drunk, but it still hurt. He only went out to parties once every couple of weeks, she could deal with that. She even used to go with him, but she got sick of it. People would just stand around getting drunk and stoned. That was not the kind of thing that she was into.

She heard laughter outside at the bottom of her window and car doors opening. She ran over to the window to see if she could see James. She could hear the girls around him laughing and a couple more were jumping out of the car and hugging him. Pieces of their conversation drifted up to the window.

"Who was the woman in your apartment, James?" asked one of the girls that was hanging on him.

"That would be my girlfriend," James replied, with a tone of disgust.

"She must be pretty good in bed if you're keeping her around, she's not even pretty," one of the other girls asked, she was a blonde.

"Oh she is, and her cooking is good. I pity her sometimes," he replied sadly.

Lily couldn't bear to listen to the rest of James's conversation. So that's all he really thought of her? He was only keeping her around for her cooking and sex? Tears were stinging her eyes and she went straight for the closet where she kept all of her clothes and her trunk. She quickly threw everything that she couldn't bear to lose inside messily. She would leave in the morning. Her baby didn't deserve to have a father like that. She would raise the baby by herself.

* * *

James stared at Lily intently, waiting for him to tell her what happened.

"At first I left because I didn't want to raise a child in that kind of environment. You were always out with your friends, and you would treat me horribly when you came back, every single time. I got sick of it. The last straw was when I heard you tell a girl that you only kept me around for the sex and my cooking.

I didn't have a clue as to where I could stay. I couldn't stay with my parents because they would hate me if I came knocking on their doorstep, knocked up." She saw James wince when she said that she had been knocked up. She took another deep breath. Some of her anger towards him was coming back.

"I had always maintained close contact with Dumbledore, and he told me that I could stay at Hogwarts for as long as I needed. I stayed until the Holidays were over and then I found my own place near Hogwarts because someone from the school would occasionally come down and check up on me. I taught some classes for Flitwick who had left for a family emergency. That only lasted until March. Then, I went back to London to catch up with some of my old friends from primary school that I had still kept in touch with over the years. Along with a couple of my cousins, they invited me to stay with them until I got my own apartment, which ended up being right across the hall from them.

They found me a job and supported me. I had a lot of time to myself, and realized that I couldn't possibly raise the baby all alone, and I had decided to go get an abortion, but I chickened out at the last minute, when I saw some of the other girls walking out. I knew I couldn't do that to my baby, so then I considered giving it up for adoption, and realized that I couldn't do that either, I already loved the baby so much, even though I had never seen it. So I decided I just wasn't going to worry about it anymore, I'd find a job with the ministry, and hopefully find another guy that would eventually help me raise the baby like his own, and I always had my friends to help me too.

Then one night Dumbledore sent for me, telling me that I was in danger and I needed to get out of there fast. That was a few nights before you found me again. He told me that there had been a prophecy and that Voldemort might be after my child and me. I ran away from you because I didn't want you to be in the same danger as the two of us. I thought it would be easier, but I realized while I was in the hospital, holding Harry for the first time that I couldn't do this without you, James," Lily said, and started sobbing at the last part.

James felt tears in his eyes too. He couldn't believe what he had done to Lily. She didn't deserve to be treated like that; he didn't deserve someone as wonderful as her.

"I'm so sorry, Lily," he whispered. Lily smiled a little, knowing that James would always be there for her and Harry. They would get married and everything would be alright. She would finally have the family that she had dreamed of, and they'd have more children running around for Harry to play with and no one in their family would suffer anymore. At least, that's what she dreamed, but things like that are never so simple.


	12. Rooftop Arguements

**Author's Note: I am sorry I haven't been able to update. We've been having computer problems and first the internet wasn't working and when the guys "fixed" the computer they made it so Microsoft Word won't work so now I can't type on that, but I have found a complicated way to write these chapters and post them for you. That's all I have to say about the delay and I hope that I haven't lost any readers. **

**Thanks Tynwfiel for correcting this, even though I had already posted the chapter. I just got anxious, like I said!**

Lily woke up a few hours later with Harry in her arms, and James curled up next to her. Harry was wide awake, and his green eyes were searching the top of the ceiling as if he were looking for something. Lily laughed and Harry started to cry. It woke up James who sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey," he said quietly.

Lily smiled. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

James nodded and kissed her on the lips. Harry made a funny gurgling noise. They were all silent for a minute or so, when they heard the door slam open.

James got up and grabbed his wand. Lily did the same, while cradling Harry in her other arm.

James opened the door a crack and saw several cloaked figures.

"Let's use the fire escape, they put up wards around the apartment," Lily said quietly. James nodded, and they climbed out the window as fast as they could with a baby.

"Here, I put a charm on the baby, he's safe from falling hard, but I'll levitate him down while you wait on the ground," Lily said quickly.

James shook his head, "It's too dangerous, let's just take my broom."

Lily was about to say no, when the Death Eaters entered their bedroom. She and James were in plain sight.

"It looks like they left before we got here," one of them said.

"We're supposed to look anyway, they could be hiding, look they've left the window open, they've got to be here somewhere," another one said. James thought that it was Lucius Malfoy.

They heard footsteps coming towards the window. Lily lost whatever color was left in her face.

* * *

"-they've got to be here somewhere," Lucius Malfoy said. He quickly walked over to the window and threw the curtains open.

James and his mudblood lover had been there. He could see them flying away over a rooftop. It wasn't too late to catch them.

"Macnair, get the others and head outside. Search the skies, Potter is on his broomstick," Malfoy spat. He couldn't let them get away. Not again.

* * *

"That was close," Lily said, holding on tightly to the baby.

"Too close for comfort. I wonder how they found out where I live. Only you and the Marauders know where I live," James said angrily, "When you were kidnapped did they ask you where I live?" he asked. Lily could see the anger in his eyes.

"No, they didn't! Even if they did I wouldn't have told them. I can't believe after what I just told you, you would even dare ask me if I had let slip where you were! I left you so they wouldn't harm you, that's the whole reason behind it all! Don't you get it?" Lily yelled at him. She couldn't believe James didn't trust her. She felt tears stinging her eyes. She wanted to get away from James right now.

"I suppose you don't think that it was any of the Marauders!" she added as an afterthought.

"No, Lily, it's not like that. It's just that the Marauders--they're like my brothers. They are my brothers, my family," James replied.

"So what does that make Harry and me? I thought that we were your family. You're Harry's father, he's your flesh and blood, but I guess that doesn't qualify as family anymore," Lily retorted.

* * *

"-your flesh and blood, but I guess that doesn't qualify as family anymore," he heard Lily say.

_She has a good point_.

James didn't say anything else for the rest of the time they were in the air. Lily didn't seem to mind that much though. They flew for about twenty minutes when James landed on the roof of the Leaky Cauldron. He grabbed Lily's hand and helped her down. As soon as she was on solid ground, she yanked her hand back and shifted Harry around in her arms.

"It won't be safe here. Since Hogwarts is the safest place I know of we'll go there, but because we can't apparate there we'll have to go to Hogsmeade first. This all looks quite a bit obvious, but if we apparate to Honeyduke's I've got a plan that will get us there safely," James said.

Lily nodded after a while, and they both disapparated to Honeyduke's. The place was almost completely empty except for the poor old shopkeeper and his wife. They were stocking the shelves and were surprised when James, Lily, and Harry arrived. Candy went flying all over the place.

"We're closed," said the old man.

"Please, we're trying to-" Lily started but James interrupted her.

"We're sorry, we'll leave now," James said, and pulled Lily and Harry out the door.

"What are you doing?" Lily whispered. She could see Death Eaters way off in the distance, "They're going to find us," she said feebly. James could see the fear in her eyes.

"There's a back door to the place. Follow me, and we can't talk until we get to Hogwarts," James said. Lily immediately closed her mouth. She shifted Harry in her arms, and pulled the blankets he was wrapped in tighter around him. He could tell she was very worried.

* * *

Lily followed James down the stairs of the candy shop to a trap door that only James could see. James let her go down first. It led to a bunch of stairs. Lily paused for a second not wanting to go down the stairs, remembering the time she fell down a flight of stairs into darkness. Lily felt a small twinge of pain in her lower back. She had to admit she was very afraid, but James seemed to know where it led, and he wouldn't lead her into danger, right? Slowly, she went down. James followed her with light, down the never-ending stairs.

The rest of the trip was very boring. After the thousands of stairs came a dark tunnel that also seemed to never end. Lily had to stop a couple of times to catch her breath, because this was the most exercise she had had since Harry was born. She really needed to get into better shape! James wouldn't let her rest for long though.

It was all quite long and boring until the path started to slope up, and there was a small crawlspace.

"We can talk now," James said, "this is Hogwarts."

Lily heard voices up above her, "So this is how you guys got to Hogsmeade all those years," she said with awe.

Lily and James had to wait for a bit until the next hour of classes began. James was now holding the baby.

"Lily, does Harry have a godfather yet?" he asked.

"No, I haven't really thought about it, but now that you ask it's probably a good idea. I think Remus should be his godfather. He would set a better example than Sirius," Lily answered.

"I don't think we could do that to him, Lily," James said. Lily noticed this funny look in his eyes. Almost like fear.

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"I think it's safe to go up there now," James said with a sigh. He went up into the crawlspace and pushed open the secret door in the statue with one hand and held Harry with the other.

"Lily can you take Harry while I get out of here?" he asked after trying--and failing many times to get out. Lily took the baby as James carefully handed him to her.

Lily passed Harry back to James and pulled herself out of the crawlspace. It was very hard work to do.

The young family then made their way to Dumbledore's office, getting strange looks from teachers, and some students that were skipping class.


	13. Prongs' Mistake

Author's Note: See the bottom author's note for why this was late. I apologize in advance for the length (or lack of as I see it), and the cliffhanger. I feel it will keep readers on their chairs. It's tragic. Oh yeah...this is the unedited version...I couldn't wait. Sorry tynwfiel! Did I spell it right for once?

"What a pleasant surprise!" Dumbledore said happily with a twinkle in his blue eyes as the family took the seats across from him.

"Not very," James muttered quietly, underestimating the hearing of the older man.

"You look tired, what's happened?" Dumbledore asked quietly, holding out his arms and gesturing to take Harry from a very exhausted looking Lily's arms. Lily handed over the baby and sank back into her chair.

"Why don't you ask him? He's seems to have an explanation for it!" Lily snapped. The Headmaster looked quite surprised at her sudden outburst. Lily noticed this and blushed while muttering an apology to him, and shot James an angry look.

"We were almost attacked by Death Eaters this morning. They came to the apartment but we escaped-"

"Just barely because you had to be reckless!" Lily interjected.

"I was not being reckless! It was obviously a lot quicker and a lot safer than levitating the baby down, and do you really think flying with _me_ isn't safe? I was the best flyer on the team!" James yelled.

"You really haven't changed at all, have you? You're still as egotistical as always!" Lily retorted.

They were snapped back to reality by the cries from their son. He had woken up because of the yelling. Dumbledore rocked him in his arms, trying to stop the baby from crying anymore. He immediately stopped when the old man's beard tickled his face, then he giggled. Lily smiled at this, as did the two men in the room. One of the portraits on the wall snorted.

"I have yet to hear what actually happened today," Dumbledore said quietly, as Harry fell back into a light sleep.

"_He_ knows it's not safe for a baby up there" she said pointing a finger at James, "but he insisted and we just barely were in the air when they looked out of the window and saw us, and you know who he blamed for this?" Lily asked Dumbledore, with a murderous look on her face.

"Who?" Dumbledore asked.

"He blames me for this, as if I would endanger my life and my son's life by telling them where I was living. After all of the sacrifices I have made for his safety he thinks that I let slip where he lived. He can trust the Marauders, but not the mother of his child," she replied, barely audible. James flinched because heknew that she was very mad when she couldn't yell.

As Dumbledore listened to this his face fell into a frown, and then a look of disappointment towards James. James had the decency to look ashamed of himself.

"I didn't mean it, I was worried and...scared," he said quietly, pausing before hesitantly admitting that he was scared.

"I see," Dumbledore replied. He took the chance to glance at Lily, whose look of fury immediately melted away as she reached for James' and squeezed it, as her sign of forgiveness. They held hands through the rest of their meeting, until they decided that they had better find a new home.

"While you're looking for a house, you are welcome to stay at Hogwarts, and when you find a home, we could have several Order members guarding your house if you'd like," he offered. They thanked him for the offer and decided to stay in the castle while they looked for a house.

They were dismissed a few minutes later, and given the password to Gryffindor tower, which was empty because it was still summer.

"Never thought that I would see the tower this empty," James said quietly. Lily smiled and dropped onto the couch and conjured a small crib for Harry, James placed him in it and joined Lily.

"I'm really sorry," James said, while wrapping an arm around Lily.

"It's ok, it was just really hard to hear," Lily replied, he heard her voice crack.

"I know," James whispered.

"No you don't-" Lily said, pulling away from James roughly, "-you have no clue. You haven't heard the prophecy, have you?" Lily asked, tears dripping down her cheeks.

James shook his head. A prophecy? It had to be the most far-fetched thing he had ever heard.

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives_," Lily recited. It had been played many times in her head and she laughed at the end. Not a laugh that suggested that she found this humorous, but a laugh that was empty; a laugh that indicated she was very worried about this prophecy.

"But Harry was born August first...," James said, looking puzzled.

"No, he was born at 11:59, July _31st_," she whispered.

"So our son is marked for death?" James asked.

"I don't know. There is another boy that fits the prophecy too," Lily answered without emotion. She had thought about this many times, how there could be a small chance that this wasn't meant for her son, but she knew not to get her hopes up, she knew that deep inside that it was Harry that the Dark Lord was after.

They fell asleep that night on the couch in front of the fire, looking every bit the perfect family.

* * *

Sirius came up to the castle that night, having heard what had happened to Lily and James. He found them on the couch sleeping, and Harry was in a small cradle by the fire, making quiet gurgling noises. 

He walked over and picked the baby up. He looked so much like James, there was no doubt in his mind that this kid was going to be something big.

Sirius took the baby upstairs to the top of the tower and they watched the stars. Sirius pointed out his star, and the other ones his family was named for.

"You're lucky you were born into such a great family, Harry," he said quietly, laughing when Harry gave him a funny look.

"You're apart of the family too, Sirius," said Lily from the doorway.

Sirius blushed, being embarrassed of talking to a baby like that. He had never shared with Lily about how his family was, but he suspected that James had filled her in.

"Thanks," he said awkwardly.

"I'm sure you already know this, but the way James talks about you, you'd think that you grew up together, that you were blood brothers. It frustrates me sometimes, you guys are always together it seems, it seems as if I'll always be a third wheel to you guys," she said, collapsing on the bed nearest to the door. Sirius sat down.

"James loves you though," he said, after thinking how to approah this.

"I know, but he could act like it a bit more. I don't think he trusts me, I know he didn't mean it, but for a second he actually thought that I had betrayed him, he didn't think for a minute that it could have been one of you guys. No I'm not accusing you of anything, Sirius," (Sirius had just opened his mouth to protest) "But, immediately he blamed me. I love him so much, but if he can't trust me I don't think I could be with him anymore, I don't think it's good for Harry. I know you guys are really good friends and all, but Harry is his son, and I am his fiancee, we're supposed to be more important to him, his immediate family," she finished, her face was blotchy now. Sirius knew that she was on the verge of tears.

"James trusts you Lily, or else he wouldn't have let you come home with him. He only lets people know where he lives if he knows they wouldn't give it away. He loves you very much too, you should have seen how depressed he was after you fell, or when you were kidnapped. A man can only take so much. It seems like he cares about us more because he's known us longer, and he knows that we would die for him, and I'm sure you would too. I think he's just being cautious with you because he doesn't want to lose you again," Sirius replied, rubbing Lily's back with one hand, cradling Harry with the other.

Lily looked at him and smiled. "Thank you, Sirius," she said quietly, and she rushed back downstairs with Harry, to talk to James.

"James..." she said, prodding him with her wand. He jerked awake, and nearly fell off the couch.

"I love you," she whispered, and hugged him. He was surprised with how happy she was towards him now.

"Where is Remus?" she asked suddenly.

"He's not feeling well," James said quickly.

"You're lying James Potter," she said quickly, "I saw him in the castle earlier."

"I'm tired Lily, can't we just go back to sleep?" said James quickly, changing the subject.

Lily nodded and went upstairs to one of the beds, leaving James and Harry in the common room. As soon as she got upstairs she summoned the Marauder's Map, she remembered that Sirius and James had left it here for the group of Gryffindors who could figure out how to work it. Finally after a few moments she heard it flying towards her.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," she muttered. The ink on the piece of parchment came to life after she said those words, and soon she saw a map of the whole castle, and the grounds. The map looked different, because there weren't as many little dots moving around the castle as usual. It was quite easy to find Remus on the map. He was just entering the Forbidden Forest.

Lily looked out the window and saw a werewolf entering the Forbidden Forest also. She had to warn Remus! Quickly, she threw on a cloak and grabbed her wand. She ran past James, there was no time to explain to him. She reached the front doors in record time, and pushed them open. If she didn't speed up Remus would be bitten for sure!

She could see the werewolf's footprints in the ground, and she sped up even more. She had to find Remus before the werewolf did. All of a sudden she heard a growl from behind her. She knew that it was the werewolf behind her. For just a second she completely froze up, but then instinct kicked in and she sent off curses and jinxes towards it, but everything seemed to bounce off of him, nothing had any effect on it at all.

The werewolf looked a bit amused by her feeble attempts to stop him, but could they show emotion? He was getting closer to her now, she could see his long fangs dripping as he prepared to bite her. His mouth was foaming, and his long claws were stretched out towards her.

She closed her eyes, preparing herself for what she knew was about to happen, and then she felt it. She felt this searing pain in her upper left arm, and passed out as she heard the cry of the werewolf.

Author's Note: Sorry this has taken me so long. Read my xanga and you'll probably figure out why. I haven't been using the comp much lately as a result of it. That's all I'm going to say for myself. By the way I had fun writing this. Sorry if bits of it seem forced. Please review and don't hate me!


	14. The Almost Werewolf

A/N: School has officially started now, so it'll be an even longer wait for chapters, I thought I'd tell you that right off the bat. I was disappointed with the lack of reviews for the last chapter, especially with the immense cliffhanger. I guess I lost a lot of readers, which makes me feel a bit less in the mood to write when I can.

So if you're still reading this story, would you please review, even if it's the first and last time you'll review, I'd just like to get an idea of how many people are still actually reading it...

* * *

Lily opened her eyes once more as she heard the cry of the werewolf. There was now a large stag smashing his antlers into its hairy chest. Lily felt her throbbing arm, there was blood streaming down from it.

She ran as fast as she could back to the castle, Remus was on his own now. She felt badly that she couldn't get to him in time, but at the moment she felt that she had bigger fish to fry. Such as, how she was to raise her infant when she was a werewolf, as soon as she reached the doors she threw them open and ran up to the Hospital Wing, but there was no one there.

She collapsed on the floor in front of the infirmary doors, sobbing hysterically. There was no living a regular life now, as if she didn't already have enough problems to worry about.

She heard footsteps, but ignored them and buried her face farther into her arms.

"Whatever is the matter?" asked a short woman with a cheery voice. It was Madame Pomfrey.

"I-I was bitten," Lily replied, sobbing even harder.

The old medi-witch helped pull Lily up onto her feet and opened the doors. Lily fell over onto the nearest bed, whimpering.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you tonight other than give you a sleeping potion. I'm out of anything to treat werewolf bites. I'll have Slughorn brew a potion for you and by the time you wake up you'll feel better. Then, we can get you registered," the nurse said, bustling about in her nightgown and looking for a potion.

Lily refused to take the sleeping potion though. She had to think things through. The research team she led at St. Mungo's was just starting on potions for werewolves, and there wasn't a cure as far as she was aware of. She thought of all the things that should be available, and she just wished that she could be back at work, leading the way. Now there was no hope of that. She had been bitten, she had no career now, she would be fired. With these thoughts she fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

The door opened an hour later and in walked James Potter, he was limping. He had consulted the map and it had shown Lily was here. He hoped that she was ok.

She was tossing and turning in her sleep. James heard her muttering.

"Have mercy...not Harry," she mumbled, "James!" she screamed.

James watched as Lily started to shake, and he quickly woke her up. She was drenched in a cold sweat.

Lily jumped when she saw James towering over her.

"You were having a nightmare," James said, lying down next to her.

"Was I? I don't remember anything," Lily replied, "And I'm falling off of the edge now." James pulled her closer to him, so that she wouldn't tumble over the side.

"What are you in here for?" James asked.

Lily gasped, and even in the dark James could tell all the blood had drained from her face.

"I was...bitten by a werewolf," Lily replied, the tears came back.

"What? How?" James asked.

"I went on the grounds to find Remus and warn him that there was werewolf, it was stupid, I know, but I didn't want to see him get hurt! Then it was there right in front of me and I closed my eyes and felt something tear at my arm, and the werewolf cried out. When I opened my eyes again there was this brilliant stag fighting him off so I ran," Lily replied.

James started to laugh.

"What do you think is so funny about that? I'm a werewolf now, oh it's horrible! Harry is going to hate me and you're going to leave me, and I won't have a job, and-" she started, but James started to kiss her.

"Let's go back upstairs to the common room where I can explain in private," he said, still laughing when they broke apart.

He helped Lily up and they walked very quickly up to Gryffindor Tower. They tumbled into the common room, as if they were being chased.

Lily sat down next to the cradle. Harry was back in it and Sirius was lying on the couch next to it, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. James hit him softly on the back to wake him up, and Sirius jumped up.

"What was that for?" he yelped.

"We have some things to explain to Lily, _Padfoot_," James replied, hoping Sirius would get it. He did.

"She ran into Moony, didn't she?" Sirius asked.

James nodded, "And Prongs."

"I want to know what the bloody hell you're talking about," Lily demanded angrily.

"Fine, when we were in our fifth year at Hogwarts we became Animagi, Sirius is a big black dog, Peter is a rat, and I'm a stag-"

"The stag?" Lily asked.

James grinned and continued, "We became Animagi so that once a month we could go down to the Shrieking Shack and-"

"What about Remus? What was he?" Lily asked.

"Remus was...the werewolf," Sirius replied, "We'd go down to the Shrieking Shack to be with him during his transformations."

"And you weren't bitten Lily. One of my antlers caught your arm, that's why you've what happened when you thought you were bitten. I'm sorry. I saw you running out and I went to the Map to see where you were heading, and then I saw Remus' dot and remembered that it was the full moon. I was so glad I made it in time to stop any permanent damage," James said.

Lily's eyes widened when she heard that Remus was werewolf. "Sirius, I don't know what James has said to you about this, but I was wondering if you would be one of Harry's godparents. If we die I would like Remus to look after him, but once a month I would want you to take him," she said. Sirius nodded.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Lily," James said warningly.

* * *

James woke up that night to Harry crying. It didn't seem as if Lily was waking up anytime soon, in fact she wasn't even there. He dragged himself out of bed and over to Harry's cradle.

"You really have got to stop this," he muttered. Harry wailed even louder at the sight of James.

"Looks like we're going for a midnight walk then, baby," James said, pulling the infant up from his warm bed.

James felt déjà vu, as he was roaming the halls of Hogwarts in his pajamas once again. He never thought that he'd be living in Hogwarts again after he graduated. As soon as they were in the halls, Harry let his crying drop down to an occasional whimper. He looked a bit scared when Nearly Headless Nick floated out from a wall and nearly into James with his head falling off, but Harry didn't cry.

James started to head down to kitchens to see if the house-elves could round up a bottle of milk for Harry when he ran into Severus Snape.

"Watch where you're going Potter," he said.

"Watch where you're going _Snivellus_, you could've hurt Harry," James replied angrily.

"Oh is that what you've named the brat? It sounds very...muggle," Snape said with his perpetual sneer growing.

"You forget that he's Lily's child too," James said. His eyes narrowed as he watched Snape's sneer fade away.

"Lily made a mistake in loving you, Potter," Snape whispered. James could see the hurt in his enemy's eyes.

"Jealous still?" Sirius asked. He came up behind Severus with his wand drawn.

"What are you doing at Hogwarts anyway?" James asked.

"I could ask the same of you and Black," Snape replied, he looked a bit frightened with Sirius' wand pointing at him.

"What are you doing?" asked a female voice. Lily had also come up behind them, "I thought that you were through with tormenting him, James!" she yelled.

"I wasn't doing anything, he ran into me! Do you see my wand drawn?" James yelled back. Harry start to whimper at the sound of his parents fighting. Lily ran off then.

"Good job, Potter," Snape said with a laugh.

"I wouldn't be laughing. We're on to you, Snape. You're under investigation as a Death Eater, I'd watch my back if I were you," James said, and glared at the greasy wizard.

"I'd watch my back if I were _you_, Potter," Snape retorted. He turned on his heel and walked off, his robes billowing out behind him. Harry was still crying.

"Let's go find mummy, shall we? You look hungry," James said to Harry. The baby giggled in turn.

A/N: Once again, if you just read that please review so I can tell how many people are actually reading this, it would be very much appreciated. I hope you all enjoyed it! Lots of explanation though, not much excitement. Oh well.


	15. Depression

Lily had run all the way up to the Astronomy Tower after the incident with James and Severus. She had always found that looking up at the stars at night was comforting to her, and just like when she was at school she went headed up there to calm herself down.

She couldn't believe that James was already causing trouble with Severus. She hadn't ever loved Snape, but she did care about him. Poor Severus, all he had ever wanted was her love, when she could only offer him friendship.

She remembered it well, how they would compete in potions class. He normally was the top student, but Lily had started gaining and gaining on him. He was always jealous because Slughorn would favor her. Snape would torment her over being part of the "Slug Club" as he loved calling it. One day they were paired up for a major project that would determine their grade that year. It was then that they had become friends.

They spent weeks researching the potion, and eventually, through trial and error they came up with new ways to brew potions, and shortcuts. They had written all of it in the margins of their potions books, then during one particularly disastrous class where a Slytherin student stirred a potion the wrong way the books had gone flying everywhere, and were nowhere to be found. Lily thought it was tragic. They had spent so much time working on it, and then it was ruined in the blink of an eye.

She pulled herself from her thoughts and stared out the window when she heard Remus' lonely cry out in the woods.

_I almost became a werewolf tonight._

The thought was too much to bear. What would've happened if she had been bitten? Who would have taken care of Harry then? James certainly couldn't be a single parent. They really did need to figure out Harry's godparents quickly, who knew what would happen in these times, they could be dead tomorrow.

_Especially with the prophecy._

That was another scary thought. She didn't know exactly what it meant, but she knew it was bad. She wished that it could be about another family, she and James already had so much to deal with. With the supposed upcoming wedding and the baby they really had too many problems to handle. Lily hated herself whenever the thought popped into her head, but however much she loved Harry, sometimes she just wished he had never happened. Things wouldn't be so difficult then. She and James could have time to work on their relationship, and their upcoming wedding.

She felt tears prickling her eyes as she heard the door open a crack.

"Lily?"

It was James. She didn't say anything, but attempted to wipe her eyes before he came in and noticed that she had been crying.

He came in a few moments later with Harry sleeping peacefully in his arms. He walked over to Lily and sat under the window with her, then lit the closest torch, so that they weren't in complete darkness.

With the light shining down, Lily could see Harry perfectly, only his head was poking out of the blankets, and she examined him. He was so little. He didn't really look like either of them yet, except his eyes, and the jet black hair that was already unruly. Some of the hair was poking out of the blankets and she brushed it aside. If you didn't look at his hair, and his eyes were closed, he just looked like a baby, it didn't even seem like hers. She knew that if she didn't have a way to identify him, he would be lost in a daycare center, or a nursery.

At this thought she started crying again.

"What's wrong?" James asked suddenly.

"It's not supposed to be like this, James," she sniffled.

"What do you mean? You've got me, and you've got Harry. What could be wrong? I though that this is what you wanted."

"It was-is, just I don't feel, James. I don't feel like his mother, I'm supposed to have all these motherly feelings, overwhelming love and I don't. Sometimes I even think about how we'd be better off without him," she sobbed.

For once in his life, James didn't have a response. He just wrapped his arm around her and let her cry.

Harry woke up then, and James watched him stare at Lily. He looked…sad, almost.

Suddenly, Lily saw him. She couldn't bear him staring at her, so she got up and ran. She ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower. Sirius was sitting on the couch, and tried to stop her, but she darted up the Girls' staircase too quickly for him.

She collapsed on her old bed, still sobbing, but glad to not have to deal with James, not now.

Lily fell asleep that night, only because she was too tired from crying.

James and Harry stayed the night in the Astronomy Tower. He couldn't believe Lily. How could she not feel anything for their son? Did she not understand that he needed her? They both did

When he woke up that morning he knew that something was off. Harry had not cried once during the night, and that was not normal. Not under any circumstances, not at his age.

He picked the baby up and noticed that he was awake, but not making much noise, the only sign of movement was his eyes. They followed James' every move. He heard a small rumbling noise and realized that Harry had not eaten since early yesterday evening!

He quickly conjured up a bottle for Harry, but when he tried to feed it to him, the infant wouldn't drink. This made James very angry, and he almost ran all the way to Gryffindor Tower. How could Lily do this?

Lily woke up the next morning to the sound of James yelling at her. He sounded extremely angry, which was very unlike him. She got up and opened her door a crack, to try and hear what exactly he was saying.

"LILY GET DOWN HERE NOW, OUR SON IS STARVING!" she heard.

Lily didn't want to have to see James or the baby now, "MAKE HIM A BOTTLE" she yelled back down, just as loudly.

"I already tried, and he refuses to drink," James said, she could hear that he was nervous.

Lily ignored him. If Harry was hungry enough he would drink from a bottle, wouldn't he? He wouldn't starve himself.

"DAMN YOU LILY! WHY DON'T YOU COME DOWN HERE AND LOOK AT HIM?" he yelled up.

She finally went down the stairs. When she got to Harry she couldn't believe how sickly he looked. He was pale and he wouldn't move. Her heart broke at the sight of him, her flesh and blood. She was killing him with every minute she was wasting not feeding.

James glared at her. His look made her cry again.

Sirius had no clue what was going on. All of sudden he glared at Lily too, and with one last disgusted look he headed up the stairs.

Lily held out her arms for her child, and felt how hot he was. He was burning up.

"He's dehydrated," she managed to whisper, before heading over to the couch where she sat before the fire and breastfed her baby. She felt like such a horrible person now.

"I'm a horrible mother," she said feebly as she watched Harry pull away. He seemed a bit better now, but they were going to have to watch him.

James didn't say anything, but held his arms out for the baby. Lily reluctantly handed him over.

"I'll get you when he's hungry again," he replied icily and headed up the stairs. Lily followed a few minutes later but was thrown off the stairs. Apparently they had cursed it to throw her off.

James sat on his bed with Harry in his lap. Sirius was sitting on the other end. James didn't know what he felt. He was so confused about Lily.

"How could she not love him?" he asked Sirius.

Sirius shrugged.

"He's so helpless, and yet she wishes that he were gone"

"I think she just needs time, James. My mother was always depressed after Regulus was born, I think it might be common, although she turned out to like him a lot better," Sirius replied.

"I just wish that I could help her, she seemed so lost last night," James whispered. He knew he was about to start crying if he said another word.

"I think she'll come around after this little episode,"

Harry cooed.

"I hope so," James muttered.

Author's Note: Sorry for the extremely long wait. I was computerless for a month. Sorry for the length, but it seemed like a good place to stop. Please, feel free to flame me for how long it took. I look forward to hearing from some of you again!


	16. The Search is On

Lily had been diagnosed with depression. She had gone through counseling with James by her side, and they had worked through things. It finally seemed as if Lily and James would have a normal life. Well, as normal as you can get with two twenty year old wizards getting married. They had grown up quickly. James and Lily had been working as Aurors before Harry came along, and James had been afterwards, but after the prophecy came about they had both decided it would be best to stop, they didn't want their child growing up without his parents. Nowadays they had been looking for other jobs, but nothing had come up yet.

Harry was getting bigger every single day, it seemed. His hair was longer, and it almost seemed blacker. It was almost as wild as James', maybe messier. His green eyes were full of wonder and curiosity. He was just learning how to crawl around, but was not going far yet. His parents were thankful for that.

After they had gone through counseling, they had decided it was finally time to set a date for the wedding. It was to take place the next day, and Lily was freaking out. Actually that was an understatement. She was paranoid that everything was going to go wrong whether it was going to be the flowers, the cake, her hair. Something was bound to go wrong she thought. Her friends were trying to console her, but it wasn't working. The excitement in the house did nothing to calm her down.

See, the problem was, word had gotten out that THE Lily and James were going to get married. They were swamped with well-wishers, and cards of congratulations. Many more people had been invited than originally planned because of it. They hadn't wanted people to know because it was a security issue, now more than ever. Dumbledore was sure there was a spy within the ranks of the Order, and you couldn't trust anybody. Not to mention they thought they were still targets of Lord Voldemort.

So right now there were a bunch of Lily's friends and former housemates running wildly around the house. Some were advising her about how to walk down the aisle correctly, or how to keep the tears from ruining her makeup. She wasn't listening to any of it though.

She just wanted the next day to come and be over with. She just wanted to be married. Of course, she was excited for being the bride. It was the day she had been waiting for ever since she was a little girl, and it _was_ every little girls' dream.

"I'm starving!" one of the younger girls shouted. "We should order a pizza!" another one suggested. "You're going to let her eat a pizza?" a third one shrieked.

Lily rolled her eyes at the mentality of the women. It's not like she could get fat overnight. She in fact looked very good for a woman that had given birth six months ago. She couldn't believe that Harry was already six months old. It seemed like only yesterday...only yesterday that she had not been with James. She shivered at the thought of not being with him again. She couldn't bear being alone again. James was the father of her child, he had saved her life, he protected and loved her.

The doorbell rang and a couple of her friends ran for the door. Harry had been upstairs in the bedroom sleeping, but he was sobbing now, waiting for her to come.

When she came down she saw Peter waiting. He looked really uncomfortable as the women were laughing about something. She noticed how he was blushing. Poor Peter.

Lily went down, covering Harry in the blanket to protect him against the cold, because Peter refused to come in.

"N-nice hair Lily," he squeaked when she greeted him. Lily laughed, for she had her hair up in curlers.

"Oh the little mouse made a joke," one of her friends said.

"Oh leave him alone, Sarah," Lily said, shooting her a nasty look. "What do you want, Peter?" she asked, "Is it James? Is he ok?"

"Yes, I mean no. Well yes, it is James, he's fine. He just wanted me to check up on you."

He pulled out a bouquet of flowers and tried to hand them to her. She shifted Harry in her arms so she could take them, but couldn't.

"Don't be stupid, Peter," Alice said condescendingly, as she grabbed the flowers for Lily. Peter looked even more embarrassed than he had been before.

"J-James sends these, a-and his love," Peter muttered and quickly disapparated away.

Lily quickly shut the door to keep them from the cold and shivered some more. She looked at the flowers; they were beautiful blood-red roses. There was something different about them though. There was something magical, but Lily couldn't figure it out. She heard a crash in the living room and put the flowers on a small table in the entryway while they went to investigate.

It was just an owl that had knocked over a vase. The owl was carrying a letter.

_My Dearest Lily (and Harry too),_

_I am going absolutely mad without you guys. Sirius thinks that I'm just boring. I'm so excited for tomorrow. The guys tried to take me out on the town for a "bachelor" party. I wouldn't have any of it, but Sirius is off right now upstairs, as he's deemed me to be a lost cause. Remus is trying to keep my ,nerves down, but he's tired, he's been sick lately, but he's getting over it. The poor guy is doing all he can to stay awake. So I had to send my flowers with Wormtail. I know, it's not as romantic as getting them from me, but Sirius wasn't going to let me leave. _

_All my love,_

_James_

There was a chorus of the women sighing. At one point every one of them had had a crush on James.

Harry sniffled. Lily uncovered his face.

"Did you hear that Harry? Daddy loves you very much, he can't stand not seeing you," she cooed to the baby.

"He's so cute!" Alice said. Alice Longbottom was Lily's best friend. They had met in the library at Hogwarts when they were in first year as they were reaching for the same book. They had gotten into a heated argument about who needed it the most, and in the end after a detention together (for causing a distraction in the library) had become best friends. She too had a young son, who had been born on the same day as Harry. The women had gone through everything together, and yet as times were difficult, her best friend hadn't seen Harry, and Lily hadn't seen Alice's child.

Alice and the others fawned over Harry until he fell asleep, and Lily decided to go to bed also. They all agreed, after seeing it was getting late, and didn't want Lily to be sleeping through the ceremony.

Lily carried Harry up to their bedroom and laid him in his crib. She finally nodded off after a while, but she wasn't able to sleep for long before she woke up to Harry's cries.

Oh great. I'm going to have great big bags under my eyes for my wedding. Thank you Harry.

She was about to roll out of bed, but Harry's cries stopped abruptly. She heard someone moving around.

_Someone was trying to take Harry!_

Quickly, she flew out of bed, her wand clutched in her hand, and flipped on the light in a half attempt to blind whoever the intruder was.

It was just James.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Is that how you treat your groom?" he asked. Harry was grabbing at James' shirt, "Hey baby," he said to Harry.

"What about me?" Lily asked. "You come here in the middle of the night, sneaking about. Then you don't even have anything to say to me. Why are you here? Is something wrong?"

"I came because I couldn't stay away," James said sheepishly. "I had to see you guys."

Lily smiled, "You can't stay you know, it would be bad luck."

"I don't believe in superstitions," James replied.

"Then why do you avoid black cats, especially since you're a wizard?" Lily countered.

"I don't care about this one then, and for your information I was attacked by a rabid black cat when I was younger, and I have the scars to prove it," James answered with a grin, while he rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to show her two thin scars running up the length of his forearm.

They talked for a while more, waiting for Harry to go back to bed. When he finally fell asleep, they both went to bed too. James wrapped his arm around Lily before they nodded off. She felt so like a real family this way.

* * *

Lily woke up the next morning. She was surprisingly calm. James was nowhere to be found, but that didn't worry her. She figured that the Marauders had taken him back to Sirius' over the night once they figured out that he was gone.

There were other things to do, she needed to fix her hair and get over to the church. She figured she'd take her hair out of the curlers first. The result was a beautiful mass of curls cascading down her back. She dressed in sweats for now, and put Harry in decent clothes. They were going to go out to breakfast before they headed over to church.

There was a knock at the door. "Lily are you up yet?" asked a cheery voice. Lily shouted that she was and ten minutes later they were in a limo that took them to a quick breakfast. They were then at the church. It wasn't a church actually. It was a giant cathedral.

It was three hours to the wedding and Lily was serene.

* * *

Sirius woke up in the morning with his arm curled around a blonde woman. She mumbled something when he tried to get up. He took even more care, and snuck into the bathroom to shower. A few minutes later the door slid open.

"Hey," the woman said.

Sirius screamed, literally screamed. The blonde screamed too. Sirius made a quick grab for a towel but she got to it before him and wouldn't give it to him.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, trying desperately to find something to cover himself with.

She giggled in response. Why couldn't he find someone that was intellectual, someone that wouldn't steal his towel in the morning when his best friend was getting married?

"Give me the towel...hey, just give me the towel. I haven't got time for this today," he growled.

When she refused he just got out of the shower and walked out only to find Remus waiting for him in his room.

"Morning Remus!" he said cheerfully.

"Good God Sirius, put something on," Remus replied.

"I tried but some bimbo stole my towel while I was in the shower. I don't see why it should matter though, I'm eye-candy," Sirius retorted while wiggling his eyebrows.

Remus conjured and threw a towel at Sirius, who wrapped it around himself immediately.

"Now is not the time for that Sirius. James is gone. I can't find him anywhere."

"Well, he left a note last night saying that he went over to see Lily and the baby. I don't know if he ever came back though, I was...er...occupied last night. He's probably still there."

"I'll call them. Hopefully there's still someone there."

Remus rushed down into the living room and threw floo powder into the fireplace. He reached Lily and James' house; Alice answered him.

"Hello Remus, nice to see you," she greeted him.

"Hi, we just woke up over here, James left a note last night saying that he came over there to see Lily last night. We can't find him anywhere though. Is he still over there?" Remus asked quickly, there were two and half hours left before the wedding was scheduled to start.

"No, we haven't seen him all morning. Lily mentioned that he came last night, but he left before she woke up, where do you think he went?" Alice said confused.

"I don't know, but we had better find him quick. Lily would be devastated if he didn't show up. You don't think he's having second thoughts, do you?"

"James? They have a kid together Remus, besides James would never do anything to hurt Lily. If either of them had second thoughts it should be Lily. You heard about the prophecy right? She's still so worried that she's endangering him."

"Just don't tell Lily. We'll try and find him, how can I reach you at the church without Lily knowing?" Remus asked.

"Um...just apparate and tell me, I can't think of any other way."

Remus agreed and pulled his head out of the fire. He had two hours to find James.


End file.
